Organic Chemistry
by steadywomp
Summary: Marceline Abadeer, a senior at Ooo U was planning on an uneventful semester, ready to fly under the radar until graduation. But on her first day of classes, she meets a stuck up pink-haired girl who makes things a little more complicated. BUBBLINE, College AU. Rated T for language, partying, and some sexy situations.
1. The First Weekend

**Hey! Welcome to the beginning of a brand new multi-chapter Bubbline fic! It's been a while since I've written Bubbline (check out my last story, Bubblegum and the Scream Queen) so I'm pretty excited about it. Anyway, please god, read and review. Reviews are super motivating. I can't wait to share this with you all.**

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There was an incessant beeping in the dark room. "Turn it off!" Marceline whined. She pulled a blanket over her head, trying in vain to muffle the piercing sound. _Why won't it stop?_ Marceline thought. She turned over on her bed, trying to put as much distance between herself and the alarm as possible. _Alarm? Shit!_ She sprung out of bed, silencing the alarm on her phone. _I can't believe I slept through four alarms again._ She fumbled around her room, tripping over piles of clothes until she finally managed to turn on the light. It was a small room and most of the space taken up by a twin bed with dark sheets. The other portions of floor space were divided between dirty clothes and school supplies. There was a large window by the headboard, but she kept the blackout curtains drawn. Christmas lights hung from the walls surrounding an eclectic selection of posters and art which ranged from bands to art prints to blood samples.

Marceline picked up a pair of black jeans from the floor and pulled them on so quickly she almost fell over. Then, sniffed a flannel to make sure it was clean before hastily trying to button it up. _Okay, okay, I'm not even that late._ She thought while rushing into the living room. She grabbed a backpack from her desk, shoving in a notebook before zipping it up and rushing to the front door, grabbing her keys on the way out. _It's still the first week and I'm already late-_

Luckily, Marceline had been going to school at OOO U long enough to know the fastest routes across campus. Her apartment was only a block away from most of the buildings she needed to get to. _Shit, where am I going?_ She stopped to look through her phone for a schedule. _Organic Chemistry? At 10 am? Was I drunk when I registered for class? Shit._ She took off in a sprint toward the West Building, dodging other slow moving young people. _I can cut through the Bonnell building- go out the other side- that should put me right out front of- Okay._ She ran ahead, backpack flopping against her still trying to avoid tackling other people. In her haste, she almost ran directly into a skateboarder. _I probably should've just stole the skateboard. That would make this way easier. Damn._ She huffed all the way through the Bonnell Building, nearly tripping over someone's art piece, and out the other side through a quad. She stopped for a moment to breathe, doubling over. _Shit. Shit. Man I'm out of shape._ She took the chance to look at her phone, it was 9:56 am. _Shit_. She took off running again, jumping steps in the quad and trying not to notice people staring at her. The West building was in sight. _Yes! I can totally make it._ She pushed through the doors and sprinted up a flight of stairs to the second floor.

Finally, with one minute to spare, Marceline opened the door to the lecture hall. Immediately, it became obvious that no one else had as much trouble waking up as she did. The large hall was packed with students, as far as she could tell, not a single seat in the back remained. _Shit_. She brushed her hair out of her face, trying to scan for an empty seat. She tried in vain to calm down, cheeks red from running and embarrassment. She could hear the door open from behind her, and an older man appeared in the doorway. He was not much taller than she was, olive skinned with dark brown hair and spectacularly round eyeglasses. He smiled at her, wrinkles deepening. _Well, at least I made it here before the professor_.

"Come now, it looks like there's a seat right up front for you." The professor said, patting her on the shoulder. Marceline turned a deeper shade of pink, now thoroughly embarrassed. They walked to the front of the room together. Marceline took the only available seat between a boy who looked like he had been awake for six days straight and a girl with pink hair.

"Good to see you all have a better sense of time than I do." The professor said chuckling a little, as he addressed the room. "My name is Dr. Petrikov, and before anyone asks, no, I am not technically a doctor. I'm still a couple credits short of a doctorate degree in history."

"I thought this was chemistry?" Marceline asked. The pink haired girl next to her glared, apparently appalled that she interrupted a teacher. Dr. Petrikov didn't mind though, in fact, he laughed a little before responding.

"Ah, a very astute observation Ms.-"

"Abadeer." She said quickly. "Marceline."

"Which is it? Abadeer, or Marceline?"

"It's both. First and last name. Well actually, last and then first name in this situation." She said, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck with her hand.

"But of course!" Dr. Petrikov seemed to get a real kick out of that. "Right you are. This is Organic Chemistry, so please, if you you're in the wrong class, quickly go on." He said, gesturing to the door. Marceline turned around to watch as three or four people quietly exited through the doors in the back of the hall. _I wonder if it's too late to move-_ "Right, now that we've got that sorted out- I am not a chemist by any means, but when the college approached me and asked me if I would teach this class for this semester I said yes, because I need the money to finish up my doctorate degree." He laughed hard, as if he had told a joke.

Marceline noticed that pink haired girl was suddenly looking very worried. She couldn't help but examine her, she was an interesting looking girl. The longer she looked at her, the more the pink hair seemed out of place. She was sitting, anxiously tapping her pen against an open notebook. _Is this girl seriously taking notes? The guys said like three words so far!_ She was pale, though, not quite as pale as Marceline. She wore a soft looking white sundress, and a pink cardigan, which struck Marceline as odd. When she saw the hair, she was expecting someone in a band shirt, or something like that. Something a little more _edgy_.

"No," Dr. Petrikov continued. "The real reason I said yes is because I'm always excited to delve into new intellectual pursuits. Now, normally in my first class I like to go over the syllabus and then do a little ice breaker, but seeing as there are so many of you, I guess I'll just go over the syllabus and you all can go." He turned to his desk and picked up a huge stack of papers. "Here," he said to a boy at the end of the first row. "Take enough for your row and pass the rest back. Now while you all get a syllabus excuse me, I'll be right back." He said before disappearing into the hall.

Marceline watched the pink haired girl huff while waiting for the papers to come their way. As the pile came down the row, she finally got a good look at the girl next to her. She had big blue eyes that remained partially obscured by the pink bangs, and would've looked friendly if it were not for the obvious frustration and exhaustion showing in her eyes. Marceline took and paper and passed the rest, still looking at the girl beside her. Her top lip was thinner than the bottom one, and nicely shape. _Alright, pink hair. You're cute. I'll give you that._ Marceline thought to herself. The pink haired girl must have noticed her staring, because she turned to face her.

"What?" Pink hair snapped.

 _Ew, rude. Never mind._ "What's your problem? We've been in class for like 5 minutes?" Marceline asked, trying to turn the tables.

"My problem is that I don't pay $60,000 a year to be taught by incompetent teachers." She said, sounding very irritated.

"It's not that big of a deal, chill. At least it'll be an easy A."

"Well, some of us aren't looking for an easy A. Some of us actually like to be challenged."

 _Wow, what a bitch_. "Okay princess, if you're so upset about it, just drop the class."

"Oh don't worry, I will." She huffed.

The professor reentered before Marceline had the chance to snap back at her. _What the fuck is wrong with that girl?_ She thought, though, she continued to glance in her direction.

"Alright," Dr. Petrikov started. "For our first order of business, I need you all to cross out item B on the first page. That rule is meant for my history classes, not for you." All throughout the room, the sound of students rummaging through their bags could be heard, followed by the scrape of ink on paper. Marceline dug furiously through her own bag, but the search returned nothing. _Shit. How did I forget a pen?_ Glancing to her right, she noticed pink hair had already crossed it out, and was sitting tapping her own almost smugly. _This bitch_ -

"Psst-" Marceline called to her. "Hey princess." The girl turned to face her, shooting daggers. "Mind if I borrow your pen for a sec?" Marceline asked, smirking. _Alright, I guess you're kind of cute when you look all murderous, too._ Without changing facial expressions, the girl reached out and handed Marceline the pen, watching her as she scribbled out the line in question. "Thanks." Marceline said, handing the pen back.

"Next time come prepared." She responded, coldly.

For the next twenty minutes or so the professor talked animatedly about the syllabus, mentioning many times how new he was to teaching organic chemistry. Marceline noticed pink hair cringe every time. "Alright, well, I guess that's all for today!" Dr. Petrikov said, clapping his hands together. "Enjoy the rest of your day and be sure to pick up your textbook before next class! I want to hit the ground running."

Marceline stood up and started to walk out, following the pink haired girl. "See you around, Princess." Marceline called to her as they passed the doors.

"My name is Bonnibell." She retorted.

"Huh. Alright then Bonnie." Marceline said, smirking. "See you."

She turned away from her and walked out to the quad, took a seat on some steps and relaxed. After a while of sitting with her eyes closed, Marceline's phone rang. She glanced at the ID and smiled a little before answering it. "What's up Finn?" She said into the phone.

"Marceline!" Her best friend shouted, sounding just as excited as always. "What are you doing tonight?"

"I don't know, I was probably just going to work on some music. Why?"

"I'm on my way to you!"

"What? Seriously?"

"Yeah! Jake is throwing this totally crazy party for his new girlfriend's birthday and he told me to come!"

"Oh, but the dork couldn't invite me himself?"

"You know he's scared of you."

Marceline laughed. "Still?"

"Yeah man. But anyway, I'm super stoked. There's this girl I wanna talk to that's gonna be there-"

"Aren't you a little young for college parties? And college girls?" Marceline teased.

"That's why I need you to be my wingman!"

"Alright, fine. I haven't been to a good party in a while anyway."

"Didn't school just start?"

"Yeah, but normally I've been to at least four keggers by now. I guess this is what I get for moving out of the dorms. Anyway, when do you think you'll be here?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe an hour? This bus ride is the worsssst."

"Alright dude, I still have another class today, but text me when you get here, maybe we can jam for a little while."

"Radical. Later."

She clicked to end the call and noticed that it was 11:27 am. _Oh shit, have I really been sitting here that long?_ She frantically searched through her phone for the calendar. _Shit. Shit shit shit._ According to her findings, her next class was due to start in three minutes. She jumped up, rushing back into the West building and up a few flights of stairs. _Man I gotta start working out or something if I'm gonna keep doing this-_ she thought to herself while hunching over with hands on her knees. _Okay, almost there._ She yanked the classroom door open, determined not to be the last student inside. However, once she entered the room she realized it was already too late for that. She scanned the room for an empty seat, three long tables were pushed together to form a U shape around the board and a podium. _Where can I sit? Man, how the hell is everyone so early-_ Almost immediately, something startled her out of her thoughts.

"Ms. Abadeer! What a pleasant surprise." A familiar voice called. Aw man- Dr. Petrikov stood at the front of the room, smiling. "Come now dear, there's a seat right by me." He said, gesturing to an empty chair at the far side of the table. Begrudgingly, she shuffled over to it. "It seems you have a penchant for poor timing," he chuckled. "No matter, I'm sure we'll get along." He said quietly to her. "Alright class, welcome, welcome to not only my favorite subject to learn, but also my favorite to teach, Ancient History." He grinned broadly at them. "I have dedicated my life to the study of ancient and unusual artifacts, and have written three books about the subject, one of which is required reading for the class so please don't illegally download it, I could use the extra pocket change." He laughed heartily. Marceline scanned around the room, it didn't look like anyone else had found the statement funny. "Right now, today, we'll just be going over the syllabus and doing a little icebreaker." He passed out the papers, and Marceline checked out, having already heard it once already. She cursed herself for not remembering a pen, wishing she could use this time to jot down a couple of lyric ideas she had. She must have zoned out for a long time, because suddenly everyone was staring at her.

"What?" Marceline asked.

"Go on, tell us." Dr. Petrikov said. "Name, major and where you're from."

"Right. Sorry." Marceline mumbled, embarrassed. "Uh, I'm Marceline. I'm an audio engineering major. And uh, I'm from a little shithole of a town called Nightosphere."

"Excellent. I know that town, I used to live nearby, right passed Grasslands." The professor said.

"No way! I used to hang out there all the time! My best friend is from there."

"Alright, let's continue." He said, gesturing to the boy beside her. The icebreaker continued around the room, Marceline only partially paying attention. Her phone buzzed with a text from Finn.

 **Im here meng! Jakes pickin me up from bus! When r u done class?**

Marceline couldn't help but smirk as she read the text in his voice. Quickly, she typed back;

 **Out in 20. Meet me by the Blues, Jake will know.**

She sat for the next twenty minutes deeply absorbed in planning what she was going to wear to the party, and how much she was going to pregame. It passed quickly. Before she knew it, she was off on her way to meet her friends.

It wasn't long before they all made it back to Marceline's apartment. Finn and Jake shared no blood because they were adoptive brothers, but they shared a strange resemblance. Jake was a short, stocky guy, while Finn was tall and lanky. They both were blonde though, with tanned skin from all the time they spent outdoors together.

"Dude! This place is amazeballs!" Finn shouted, looking around Marceline's apartment. "What's it like, living on your own and stuff?"

"I mean, it's pretty cool, no annoying roommates when I'm trying to record and shit, but it's pretty boring otherwise." She said, smirking as Jake quietly moved through the space and sat on the couch.

Finn threw himself down on the pink couch, following Jake. "Ow!" He cried. "This couch sucks!"

Marceline laughed. "Yeah, I got it off of a guy on Craigslist. He said a witch enchanted it to be permanently uncomfortable, but on the bright side it was only forty bucks."

"That's so stupid." Finn said. "Why would a witch waste their magic on such a junked up move?"

"I don't know, to mess with mortals like you." She said, laughing. "Nah, the dude was completely bonkers. You guys would've thought he was pretty funny."

"Are you bringing any of your friends later?" Jake asked Marceline. "Like your band or anything?"

"No, all those lame asses went home for the weekend."

"Oh, okay." Marceline swore she heard Jake let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey, now that we're here, can we finally watch _Heat Seakers_?" Finn asked.

"I can't," Jake said. "I've gotta go pick up my lady soon. Still got some finishing party touches, you know?"

"Ooh, sounds important." She teased.

"Yeah, I got Party Pat to dj! He's a total diva though. Needs to pregame hours before hand and needs me there."

"Wow, what an honor." Marceline touched her hand to her chest. Jake glared at her.

"Fine, jerk. Me and Marceline will watch it without you."

"That's messed up, Finn." Jake frowned.

"Just go." Marceline said, laughing. "We won't watch it. We'll just jam or something." She opened the door and held it while Jake made his way over. "Don't forget to text one of us the address." She closed the door behind him and turned her attention back to Finn. "Alright little dude. Let's get our jam on."

Only a few hours later, the two of them entered a huge marble building with Greek letters above the doorway. They almost didn't need the address, there were tons of people filtering in and the music could be heard down the block. "Since when is Jake a frat guy?" Marceline asked, staring up the large staircase in the immaculate building.

"He's not, he's just friends with a few of them." Finn said. "Come on, we should go find him." Marceline followed as her friend craned to look around for his brother. She grabbed two beers from a cooler as they passed it, roughly shoving one into Finn's hand.

"Cheers." She muttered as they clicked their bottles together.

"There he is!" He shouted over the music, pointing to the far corner of the room. They approached, but Finn stopped suddenly. "Oh grod!" He said.

"What?"

"That girl I like is over there." He said, suddenly facing the opposite direction, cheeks bright pink.

"Where?"

"Right next to Jake and his lady." Finn said. Marceline looked intently for the mystery girl in question before noticing someone familiar holding a red plastic cup. "She's got this really rad pink hair-" he started. _No fucking way._ Marceline was looking directly at the girl she had met a handful of hours ago in Organic Chemistry. "Her name is Bonnibel."

 _That girl goes to parties?_ "I know that girl." She said.

"Seriously? That's awesome! That'll make it was easier for you to talk to her for me."

"She's in one of my classes- She's pretty stuck up, how do you even know her?"

"She's best friends with Jake's girlfriend." He said. _Of course she is. Shit._

"So will you do it?" He asked, pleading.

"Do what?"

"Talk to her for me!" Finn whined.

Ugh. I don't want to have to- "Are you sure? I don't know man. I don't think you guys would really vibe-"

"No, I've met her, she's totally cool-"

"And I mean she's only kind of attractive-"

"Are you kidding? She's so hot!" He grabbed Marceline by the arm, shaking it. "Please. Pleaseeeee. Come on dude."

"Ugh, fine." She said finally.

"Okay, go!" He said, lightly shoving Marceline off in the girl's direction. She trudged through the crowd until she made it to Bonnibel's side.

"Hey there, princess." Marceline said almost into her ear. Bonnibel whipped around, startled. Her face fell immediately upon realizing it was Marceline. _Okay, not a great start-_

"What are _you_ doing here?" She said, looking incredulous. _What am I doing here? Is this girl serious?_ She turned to face Marceline, taking a step closer to her so she could hear better.

"I was invited, by a mutual friend."

"Oh no. We have mutual friends? Does that mean I'm going to have to see you regularly?" Bonnibel said.

"Trust me, I was just as disappointed as you are." She said in a low voice. Bonnibel made a strange expression. I _mean, I guess you are kind of hot-_

"So, who is it that we have in common?"

"Finn and Jake."

Bonnibel laughed. "Of course." It was the first time Marceline had seen her smile. It suited her. "Offff course." Her nose scrunched up, as if it was very funny. _Alright, yeah, you're hot, I get it. Whatever._

"So I take it you're not looking forward to our future group hangs, huh?" Marceline asked, sarcastically.

"Oh you mean after the amazing time we had together in class?" She retorted, smiling. _Is this girl flirting with me?_

"Yeah, honestly, I would've never imagined I'd run into you at a party-"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you seemed a little too high-strung to like this kind of thing."

"I am not high strung!" She snapped. Marceline gave her a look.

"Whatever you say, Bonnie." Marceline teased.

Bonnibel's nostrils flared. "Don't call me that."

"Would you rather be princess?"

"No." She said, dejected.

"Alright then." Marceline said, matter-of-factly. They stood together in silence, sipping their respective drinks.

"So I assume you didn't come over just to antagonize me? Or am I being naive?" Bonnie asked.

"No, I came over because Finn begged me to talk to you for him."

"Isn't he a little young?" Bonnibel asked, tapping her fingers on the edge of her cup.

"That's what I told him. But he's a good dude, so I told him I would. Be nice to him."

"What, you think I'm not nice?" She growled. Marceline couldn't help but laugh. Bonnie smiled, too. "Alright, fine. I'm high strung. You win."

"You're way prettier when you smile, you know that?" Marceline said. _Should I not have said that? I probably shouldn't have said that._

"Yeah," she muttered. "I have been told." She laughed, taking another sip from her cup. "Wait, were you just hitting on me on behalf of your friend?"

"No. If I said you were sexier when you smiled, that would be hitting on you, and it would've been on my own behalf." Marceline said, smirking. She noticed Bonnibel blush a little. She also saw Finn out of the corner of her eye trying to ask her how it was going, she felt a twinge of guilt.

"I underestimated you." Bonnibel said, smirking into her cup. "I pegged you more as the class clown."

Marceline dropped her jaw in mock outrage. "Class clown? Seriously?" She asked, gesturing to herself. "Look at me, I obviously exude the mysterious bad girl vibe."

"You talk too much to be mysterious." She laughed.

"Whatever." Marceline pouted. "So are you over the hostility? Can we move past that into the playful banter phase?"

"Hmm. I don't know." She said, shrugging. "We'll have to find out if I can stand to be around you sober." The pink haired girl grinned. It was contagious.

"Right, right, since obviously we'll be seeing a lot more of each other."

"Exactly", she said.

"Anyway, I'm supposed to be doing recon." Marceline said, glancing over at Finn. "I'm gonna need something to tell him."

"You could tell him I think he's too young."

"No, that's mean, he's a fragile little dude. I just need to bring back some general information, like, are you single, are you looking, what's your ideal date-"

Bonnie snorted, almost choking on her drink. "Come on, you're not really trying to set us up, are you?" She asked, laughing.

"Well no, but I don't want him to get bummed out." _And you know, it'd probably be good to know-_

"You sure you aren't asking for yourself?" She teased, lightly biting her own bottom lip almost subconsciously.

 _She totally is flirting with me! Shit. I can't swoop in on Finn like that-_ "Trust me, after this morning I would've never willingly approached you." Marceline said, teasing.

"Hey!" Bonnie laughed, giving Marceline a light shove. They stood next to each other, Marceline realized that somehow they had drifted much closer together than they were at the beginning of the conversation. The party raged on, despite the stillness the two girls had maintained. Marceline noticed Finn and Jake dancing together a few feet away, while Jake's girlfriend watched. She turned back to the girl next to her who smiled. _Well_ , she thought to herself. _This is going to be an interesting semester._


	2. The Blues

**Hey guys! Thanks for your support on the first chapter! I'm glad people dig the direction so far. Anyway, review, you know what's up. Here is the second chapter for your reading pleasure.**

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The party was a huge success. It seemed like everyone on campus had showed up, from jocks to poli-sci majors, engineers to artists. Even school hero Billy, quarterback and all around good guy could be seen mingling and drinking.

Marceline and Finn had teamed up to take on some douchey frat bros in a round of beer pong. They stood next to each other rubbing shoulders with looks of concentration. It was an intense game, both teams remained tied at the end of each turn. The nail biter had attracted the attention of many party goers, many of whom stood around them, booing or cheering. Jake stood close behind Finn, holding his girlfriend by the waist, whom Marceline only knew as "Lady" at this point. She was tall and skinny, towering over Jake. The two of them were a funny sight. It was Finn's turn to shoot, Jake shouted pointers at him. He flung the ball across the table and it clicked against the side of cup, landing in with a splash. Their half of the crowd erupted in cheers as one of the frat guys fished out the ball and chugged.

"Alright man, it's all you! You got this!" Finn said to Marceline as they bounced the ball back to her. _Shit. Shit. The last point is riding on me. I can do this. Fuck these bro-douches._ She took a deep breath and moved toward the final cup, which was sitting toward the edge of the opposite side of the table. "You've totally got this." Finn said again, patting her on the back. She turned to look at him, and saw Bonnie standing behind her, smiling. The pink-haired girl raised her drink, encouragingly. _I've totally got this._ With a sudden surge of confidence, Marceline shot the ball with what looked like very little effort, and grinned at Bonnie as it went in.

Jake nearly knocked them both over in celebration, screaming, "that's my brother! Aw man! That's my little bro!" He grabbed his younger brother and dragged him away, now suddenly inclined to introduce him to everyone at the party. Marceline turned her attention back to the pong table. She picked up one of the remaining cups and started to drink from it. _Well, guess I shouldn't let this go to waste._

"You know, that was almost impressive." Bonnibel said from behind her. Marceline spun to the source, smirking.

"Almost? Are you kidding? I was amazing."

"Those guys could've beaten you."

"Yeah, but they didn't."

"It was a close game."

"Man, you are really hard to please, huh?"

"Oh, so now you're trying to please me?" Bonnie said, teasing. _I knew she was flirting with me!_

"Woah woah, don't start getting and ideas, now." Marceline said, trying hard to hide her grin. "We still don't know if we'll even like each other sober."

"What makes you think I like you now?" Bonnie laughed.

"Whatever, princess." Marceline said. "Hey, you want another drink?"

The pair fell into easy conversation as the party continued into early hours of the morning. Eventually, the crowd started to thin out.

"I'm just saying," Marceline started "you really didn't have to be so vicious." She could feel the blood rush to her cheeks. She had been drinking steadily throughout the night, maintaining a nice buzz.

"Oh come on, I already apologized for it. Get over it." Bonnie said, sloshing her drink around in her cup. "I just hold my education to a higher standard."

"Clearly." Marceline snorted. "Hey, you're not really gonna drop the class, are you?"

"No. But I did try to, no thanks to you. It's he's the only Organic Chem teacher available. It's unbelieveable. If I didn't need it for my degree I wouldn't take it." She huffed.

"Well what's your major?"

"Biochemistry." Bonnie said, looking very self satisfied.

"You sure do get a kick out of being smarter than other people, huh?"

"Well when you put it like that I sound like a jerk." She said, and Marceline couldn't help but laugh. "Whatever! What are you majoring in, Ms. Cool and mysterious?"

"Audio engineering." Marceline said in her coolest, most mysterious voice. They both laughed.

"So do you play any instruments? Or are you just trying to make a career in music happen anyway?"

"I play a few instruments, actually. Mostly strings, guitar, bass and all that."

"Do you write a bunch of angsty songs and play in a band?" Bonnie teased.

"Shut up." Marceline said, pouting. _Man, I really gotta work on being less predictable-_

"So why are you taking Organic Chemistry if you're a music major?"

"I needed science credits. I kinda pushed off all of my gen-ed's until now." Marceline shrugged. She took a sip of her drink when Finn, Jake and Lady appeared.

"Hey, this party is pretty much over so we were gonna head out." Jake said to Marceline. "But uh, I don't know what I'm going to do about Finn, I got my guest privileges revoked for throwing a party in my room-" _Seriously? But I was just starting to have fun-_

"I mean, you guys can all just come back to my place so you won't have to worry about dorm security or whatever. I think I might have an air mattress." Marceline said, trying not to sound too eager.

"Heck yeah! After party at Marcy's!" Finn shouted. It was obvious that he had a little too much to drink.

"Alright, yeah!" Jake said, patting his younger brother on the back.

"Oh, Lady and I should really should be heading back to our dorm-" Bonnie started.

"Actually, I'd like to stay with Jake." Lady said. It was the first time all night Marceline had heard her speak. She had a Korean accent. _Interesting-_

"Are you sure-" Bonnie started.

"Come on, you square." Marceline said, grabbing her by the arm. She led the group out the door and down the stairs, grabbing a couple beers on the way out.

The unlikely crew stumbled their way through the streets of the quiet college town. Finn took the lead, shouting every few minutes about how stoked he was to be on an adventure. Jake and Lady held hands, with their heads as close as they could get despite the height difference. Marceline walked next to her new friend, talking.

"So you live off campus?" Bonnie asked.

"Technically, yeah. It's really close by though." Marceline said.

"So then why not just live in the dorms?"

"I can't have band practice in the dorms."

"Ah." Bonnie said, smirking.

"Plus, they always give you a hard time about having people over when you live in the dorms."

"Oh, so then you do you invite complete strangers back to your place a lot?" Bonnie sniggered.

"No, I just don't think it's the school's business who I have come over." Marceline said, shoving her friend slightly. "Left, Finn." She yelled to the tall boy once they had reached an intersection. "No, your other left!" She couldn't help but laugh.

"I knew that!" He shouted back, laughing.

"We really should try to be quieter, someone might call campus police on us." Bonnie said, looking concerned.

"What, afraid of getting busted?" Marceline teased.

"Aren't you?" Bonnie asked defensively.

"Nah, I'm twenty-two and I live off campus. What are they gonna do to me?"

"Well, not all of us are quite that old."

"No? So how old are you?"

"Twenty."

"So you're telling me that, not only do you party, but you also engage in _illegal_ activities?" Marceline laughed. "I can't believe it."

"You act like you know me."

"I thought I did. You just seemed like the neurotic hyper-sensitive always stressed straight-A student type."

"Most of that is true." Bonnie laughed. "But I am other things, too."

"I guess that makes sense." Marceline said. She tripped on her step up to the curb, quickly grabbing Bonnie's arm to keep her balance.

"So now you want to hold hands?" Bonnie smirked. _God, this girl is going to kill me-_

"Maybe just to be safe." Marceline said, quietly.

"Uh-huh. Sure." She responded, teasing. She didn't disapprove when Marceline lid her hand down and laced their fingers together, though. For a moment, they were in comfortable silence. Finn still led the way, occasionally losing balance doing spin kicks. Lady and Jake could be heard muttering and laughing quietly together. Marceline had to run up and grab Finn, he walked right passed her apartment and apparently couldn't hear her calling him.

"You guys wait out here a sec." Marceline said. She unlocked the door and rushed in ahead of everyone, rapidly picking things up off of the floor and throwing them into bins. "Alright, you guys can come in now." She said. Her friends stumbled in, the living room was still dark.

"Do you mind turning on a light?" Bonnie asked, the shadow of her frame in the doorway.

"Yeah, sorry, sometimes I forget not everyone prefers the dark." Marceline said, flicking the switch. Suddenly the room was bathed in light, revealing the surprisingly well put together space. Instruments filled the far corner of the room, next to a desk covered with large speakers and a mixing board. Art hung on the walls, though more sparingly than in the bedroom. Jake and Lady sat on the couch, both grimacing with discomfort.

"You got any movies?" Jake asked Marceline.

"Just put on Netflix. I'll go look for that air mattress." She said, disappearing into the hall. Moments later, she returned holding what looked like a large folded sheet of grey vinyl and an electric pump. She dumped both on to the floor in front of Jake. "Here you go." She said. "I had to buy one of these cause Kiela practically needed physical therapy after trying to sleep on the couch."

"Oh no." Bonnie said suddenly, digging through her purse. She hadn't moved very far out of the doorway.

"What's up?" Marceline asked.

"I think I might've left my phone at the party."

"We can run back and check real quick, if you want." Marceline said.

"You sure? He looks like he's in pretty bad shape." Bonnie said, looking at Finn. He was lying face down on a bean bag chair, with long limbs hanging off on to the floor.

"Yeah, it's fine, they can all stay here." Marceline said looking back at Jake who was sitting on the floor, filling the air mattress. Bonnie didn't look convinced. "Oh, come on, we'll be quick."

The pair rushed out of the apartment, locking the door behind them. They retraced their steps back to the frat house, it had gotten very quiet on campus. Marceline was suddenly aware of the cool breeze pushing back her hair. She smiled against it, letting it tickle her pink cheeks. _Man I love alcohol._ They passed a grassy quad, full of trees that rustled in the wind. Bonnie stopped, inspecting the ground.

"What are you doing?" Marceline asked.

"This is near where you almost fell. Maybe I dropped it when you grabbed me." Bonnie said.

"Oh, so now it's my fault?" Marceline laughed.

"Just help me look."

"What's your number?" Marceline asked, pulling out her phone.

"What?" Bonnie asked, confused.

"It's gonna be a lot easier to find if it's ringing."

"Oh. Right." Bonnie said. She walked over to Marceline and typed her phone number in. Within seconds, ringing could be heard.

"It's ringing! That means it's gotta be around here somewhere!" Marceline said excitedly. She stared intently at the ground, spinning to find the source. She looked up at her friend, who's cheeks were suddenly very pink. "What?"

Completely ashamed, Bonnie slipped her hand into her purse and pulled out her phone. "I can't believe it was in there the whole time." Marceline laughed so hard she thought she might fall over. "Alright, it's not that funny."

"It - so - is." Marceline said between gasps. "And wait, is that a flip phone?" She asked, pointing. "What are you, a drug dealer?" She laughed.

"I like my phone! It helps me stay connected to the world around me instead of the world online!" She huffed. "Come on. Let's get back to your house." Bonnie said, annoyed.

"Alright, alright." Marceline said, finally coming down. The girls did an about face and started walking back. "Wait, are you sure this whole thing wasn't an elaborate plan to get some alone time with me?"

"You wish." Bonnie said.

Marceline noticed a man walking towards them. As they got closer, she noticed that he had a very interesting face with large eyes, thick eyebrows, a pointy nose, and wide lips. He looked like a collage of facial features that didn't quite fit together. He was shorter than both of the girls, but still somehow appeared menacing. Soon it seemed Bonnie had noticed him too.

"Oh no." She whispered, more to herself than Marceline. The man was eyeing them up, not yet having passed each other.

"Bonnibel? Is that you?" The man called. His voice was nearly as strange as her face. Marceline could feel Bonnie trying to look away. "It is! My my, what luck I've had." He continued, now stepping in front to cut them off.

"Leave me alone, Ricardio." Bonnie said, now staring directly at him.

Marceline laughed. "What did you just call him?"

"Ricardio." He said, reaching to extend her his thin hand. "And who might you be?"

Marceline couldn't contain herself. "That's not a real name."

"It is." He said, furrowing his brow. "It's my name."

"That's the dumbest name I've ever heard!" She continued to laugh. "Why didn't your parents just name you Ricardo?"

"Marceline." Bonnie whispered, nudging her to cut it out. Marceline looked back at the strange man, who was now clearly very angry.

"Bonnibel, I had no idea you fraternize with such, uncultured swine-" Ricardio huffed. _Swine? Me? Oh fuck no-_ "it's probably best if you come with me." He said, wrapping his bony fingers around Bonnie's wrist.

"Let go of me!" Bonnie shouted.

"Oh come now, you know you'd much rather be with me." He said, pulling on her arm. Bonnie struggled to shake off his grip. _Shit. Shit. Oh my god. What is he doing?_

"She said let go you fucking creep." Marceline said, fuming.

"Be gone, ruffian." He said, waving Marceline off.

"I'm giving you two seconds, dude. Let go of her." _I mean it._

"Bonnibel, do you mind telling your friend-" He was cut short by Marceline's fist. The punch collided directly with his jaw, resulting in a satisfying _thuwack!_ The sound echoed on the empty street, and again when the man hit the ground.

"Marceline, oh my god!" Bonnie said, staring down at the now unconscious Ricardio.

"What? He had it coming!"

"You didn't have to knock him out!"

"Hey, what's going on down there?" Came a voice from the end of the block. Suddenly, a flashlight clicked on. _Shit._

"We gotta go, security's coming-" Marceline said, hushed.

"We can't just leave him like that-"

"He'll be fine, but we won't if we get caught here." She rushed. "Come on." The girls ran away from source of the flashlight and disappeared down the block. _We gotta go somewhere. Shit. I can't lead them back to the apartment-_

"Don't you live the other way?" Bonnie asked when they stopped to catch their breath.

"Yeah, but we're gonna need an alibi." Marceline said, gesturing for her to follow. Within moments, they were standing at the front door of a shabby looking bar. A neon sign hung above them that read "The Blues".

"So your idea is to get more to drink?" Bonnie asked.

"No. Just gotta show face for a few minutes. They know me here. They'll vouch for us." Marceline said, opening the door.

"Sounds like you've done this before." Bonnie said, following.

"So what if I have?" Marceline smirked, looking back at her.

"I'm not even legal." Bonnie said.

"So just don't say anything." Marceline snapped back. _Man, this girl has no street smarts-_

"Hey! There's my girl!" A large man behind the bar shouted. "We were wondering if you'd come by." He was dark skinned, with a mess of long curly brown hair. His eyes were bright and friendly, smile genuine.

"Dave, my man." Marceline said. "We just came from this party. Figured I'd stop by and say hi." She smiled.

"New friend?" The man asked, gesturing to Bonnie who blushed.

"Something like that." Marceline smirked.

"What are you having?" He asked, picking up a glass.

"Oh, I shouldn't. Another drink and I might not make it home." She laughed.

"Aw, come on, just one. On me." He said.

"Fine. Just a beer then." Marceline said, taking a seat. Bonnie did the same.

"And for you?" The man asked Bonnie.

"Oh no I'm-"

"She'll have a beer too." Marceline said. Watching Bonnie squirm from discomfort. _How is she such a square?_ She laughed to herself at her friend's guilty look when Dave returned with two beers.

Marceline and the bartender talked while the two girls drank, she caught him up on the everyday comings and goings of her life, and he did the same. Bonnie sat quietly, not wanting to give herself away.

"So, where'd you meet this one?" He asked Marceline, looking at Bonnie, smiling.

"Organic Chem. She was totally losing her shit, too." Marceline laughed.

"I was not!" Bonnie said, finally breaking her silence.

"She was. I probably never would've spoken to her again if it wasn't for us having mutual friends." _Or Finn being hopelessly in love with her-_ "but it's pretty late." Marceline said, setting down her near empty beer. "We should probably head home."

"Alright girl, come by soon, alright? It's been a long summer."

"Alright man." She said, giving him a point from across the bar. "Come on," she said to Bonnie.

"It was nice to meet you." Dave smiled at her.

"You too." Bonnie managed before following Marceline out of the bar.

"Shit." Marceline said. After a brisk walk, the girls were standing at her front door.

"What's the matter?" Bonnie asked.

"I forgot my keys."

"Are you serious?"

"I'm so serious." Marceline said bringing a hand to her face. "Hold on, let me call Finn." She grabbed her phone and hastily pulled up Finn's contact. It rang, but there was no answer. She tried three more times before switching to Jake. There was no answer from him either. "Shit."

"They didn't pick up?"

"No. They're probably all passed out by now. Shit. I didn't mean to stay out this long."

"What are we going to do?"

 _We might be able to-_ "I have an idea." Marceline said.

"What is it?"

"Come on." Marceline skipped off her stoop and walked around to the side of her building. There was a yellow awning hanging over the side door. "Okay, all you need to do is boost me up." She said to Bonnie. "Then I'll grab on to that awning and pull myself up and then force the window open."

"What?" Bonnie shouted. "You'll fall and break your neck!"

"Nah, it's totally easy, I've done it before."

"You've locked yourself out more than once?"

"Well no, the first time was a dare-" Marceline said, sheepishly. "Now boost me up." Bonnie reluctantly grabbed her friend by the waist and lifted to the best of her ability. Marceline had a grip on the awning, and managed to hoist herself up. "Yes!" She shouted, looking down.

"Now hurry!" Bonnie said. She watched as Marceline approached the window and managed to lift it open.

"Go around front," Marceline started. "I'll unlock it for you." A minute later, the building's door opened with Marceline behind it. "Ah, welcome." She said, hair disheveled.

"What'd you do? Fall in?" Bonnie laughed.

"As a matter of fact, I did." Marceline retorted. "On the tile floor in the bathroom. It's a wonder none of these lameos woke up." She said, opening her apartment door. Finn had fallen asleep exactly where they had left him, on the bean bag chair. Jake and Lady were cuddled up on the air mattress in front of the tv. Bonnie yawned.

"I guess I'll take the couch." She said.

"No dude, that thing is brutal." Marceline said. "You can have my bed. I'll take the floor."

"I'm not going to make you sleep on the floor in your own house." Bonnie said.

"Fine, we'll share it." She said, leading the way to her bedroom. "I gotta warn you though, it's really small."

"We'll manage, I guess." Bonnibel said. Marceline tried to hide her grin as she shut the door behind them.


	3. Hot Mega Nerd

**Hey guys! Thanks for all the follows, favorites and reviews. I'm glad you're enjoying things so far. Hopefully you all continue to and keep them coming, hahaha. Sorry this update didn't come as quickly as the first two, I've had a lot going on. But hopefully now I'll be able to be a little more consistent. Anyway, enough of me, here's the next chapter.**

Marceline awoke slowly, uncomfortably warm and only vaguely aware of the location of her limbs. She reached to push the hair from her face, but struggled with something in the way. _What the fuck-_ She leaned back, pressing against the wall to put space between her and the object. It wasn't until she was staring at a pile of pink hair that she realized what was in front of her was not a thing at all, but a person. A virtual stranger. A potential friend. A potential something more. She suddenly became very aware of every point their bodies met. One arm was around her waist, the other pressed against her back. Marceline stilled her breathing as much as possible to keep from disturbing her. _Shit, what am I supposed to do? Climb over her? Lay here until she wakes up? Is that creepy? Is it weirder just to crawl out of bed? Ugh. I guess I could just wake her up-_ She pulled away from her lightly, so she didn't wake up before they were completely separated. Marceline figured it would be less uncomfortable that way.

Once she was as far away from Bonnibel as possible on the small bed, she spoke. "Hey." There was no response. "Hey Bonnie." She said. The girl beside her stirred. "Man, I thought a nerd like you would wake up naturally at the crack of dawn." She teased.

"Isn't it a little early to start picking on me?" Bonnie groaned. Marceline laughed.

"Calling it 'picking on you' makes it sound like it's not a fair fight."

"It's not."

"So are you saying I'm of superior intellect?" Marceline said. Bonnie shifted from her side to lay flat on her back, finally looking up at her friend.

"You wish."

"So what's your deal then, brainlord?"

"What deal?"

"With you waking up all late. I swore you'd be an early riser."

"I am. Well, normally. What time is it?"

Marceline reached over her to a nightstand where her phone rested and checked the time. "Almost noon."

Bonnie sighed, bringing a hand to her temple. "I should not have had that last beer."

"Aw, does princess have a hangover?"

"I'm starting to regret hanging out with you, too." Bonnie teased.

"Whatever, you totally enjoyed yourself."

"Yeah, yeah." She said sarcastically.

"Well, since I am responsible for your hangover, the least I can do is provide you with a little hair of the dog. My bloody mary's are legendary."

"I really should be going. I have to get down to the lab, I have work to do." Bonnie said sitting up. She reached for her bag, pulled out her cell phone and clicked away at a few of the buttons.

"Seriously? It's Saturday. And the first week of the semester. There's no way you already have assignments." Marceline huffed, pushing a lock of hair away from her face.

"It's a personal project. It's easier to get things done on weekends. It's not as busy in the lab."

"You do personal science projects on weekends?"

"What, like it's weird?" Bonnie asked.

"It's super weird!" Marceline laughed.

"Oh, so you don't work on music over the weekend?"

"That's different." She rolled her eyes.

"It's not!" Bonnie insisted.

"So what's your project? You working on curing that nerd gene of yours?"

"You can't cure a gene, Marceline."

"And you would know, nerd."

"Can I go? Or are not finished berating me?" Bonnie said, biting back a frustrated smile.

"Can you text on that thing?" Marceline asked, pointing to Bonnie's phone.

"Yes, I can text." She said, glaring. "Have you never owned a flip phone?"

"Not since my emo days."

"You are so typical." Bonnie laughed.

"What, you _didn't_ have an emo phase?"

"No." She said, crossing her arms.

"Oh, I get it," Marceline smirked. "That must mean you were a total prep!"

"Prep?" Bonnie laughed. "I haven't heard that one in years."

"Oh my god, you totally were a prep!" Marceline laughed. "Man, we would've hated each other in middle school."

"We hardly like each other now." Bonnie smirked.

"You just keep telling yourself that, Bon." Marceline said, clicking her tongue.

"So now my nickname has a nickname?"

"Again, we can always go back to Princess."

"You're insufferable, you know that?"

"One of my many charms."

"I don't think I've seen many charms from you."

"And yet, here we are." Marceline said. They looked at each other, examining.

"I should go." Bonnie said, picking up her purse.

"Fine, have fun with your nerd stuff."

"I will. You have fun being a delinquent."

"I always do." Marceline said. "Oh, and don't worry, when everyone asks what happened last night, I'll be sure to keep the story PG-13." She winked.

"You say that like something worth censoring happened."

"Maybe not _this_ time. But it will." Marceline teased.

Bonnie laughed lightly at her new friend, shaking her head. "I'll see you around."

"Let me walk you out." Marceline said, standing up from her bed. She walked over Bonnie who was standing in the doorway.

"What, like I'm gonna get lost?" She joked.

"It's polite."

"So you're going for dark, mysterious, and polite?"

"Whatever. Don't you have some lame science nerd thing to be doing?" She grumbled.

"That's more like it." Bonnie chuckled. She led the way back down the short hall to the living room. Their friends laid exactly where the girls had left them the night before, Jake and Lady on the air mattress, Finn stretched across a bean bag chair. Though, now, they were all awake watching a colorful cartoon on tv.

"Hey Marcy." Finn said.

"You alright dude?"

"Yeah." He said, sitting up. He immediately groaned from the sudden movement and shifted slowly to lay back down. "No. Never mind."

Jake laughed heartily from the air mattress. Lady sat up and turned to Bonnie, smirking while she said something in Korean. Bonnie must have understood whatever she said, because she blushed and responded, also in Korean.

"What are they saying, Jake?" Finn asked.

"I'm not sure. I'm not that good at translating yet." Jake frowned. Lady leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"You ready to go?" Bonnie asked Lady, now speaking English. She nodded.

"Aw, you're leaving?" Jake asked.

"Yes. I should go home." Lady said.

"Alright baby doll, I'll walk you." Jake said. Lady smiled and grabbed her bag.

"Well, have fun being that third wheel." Marceline said to Bonnie, smirking.

"Whatever." Bonnie said, reaching for the door. "Bye Marceline."

"Later Bon." Marceline said. Jake and Lady had reached the door and followed Bonnie out. "Later guys. Nice to meet you." She said to Lady, who smiled back and nodded. She shut the door behind them and turned back to Finn. "Do you want me to-"

"So what did she say about me?" Finn asked excitedly, cutting her off.

"What?" Marceline asked, brow furrowed.

"Bonnibel! What'd she say?"

"Oh." Marceline frowned. _Shit, how do I put this gently?_ "She uh-" She pushed her hair out of her face, trying to buy time. "She said she's not really trying to date anyone right now." _And I hardly mentioned you. Man, I'm a shitty friend._

"She thinks I'm too young, doesn't she?" Finn groaned.

"Yeah. Sorry dude." She shrugged. _I wonder if she'd be interested in me- Man, I really am a bad friend._

"This sucks, man." He huffed. "Why is every hot babe too old for me?"

"I think looking for hot babes is your problem. There's no such thing as a seventeen year old babe, you know? I think babe-ness comes with age."

"I guess you're right." He sighed. They both looked to the tv, watching it for a moment. "Or," Finn said suddenly. "I can just act really cool and impress her and she'll totally forget how old I am-"

 _Or you could just drop it-_ "I don't really think that would work-"

"It totally could! You'd help, right?"

"Uh, yeah- I guess." Marceline frowned. "Maybe I could invite her over later or something."

"Rad! You're the best!" Finn grinned.

 _I really should just tell him I'm interested- he'd understand. No. I can't do that to him again._ Marceline took a seat on the couch. She didn't mind that it was hard, mostly because she had gotten used to it. "So what do you want to do today, little dude?"

"Can we just chill and play video games? I still feel like I'm gonna die." He groaned. Marceline laughed.

"No probs. We can order burgers or something."

"You really are the best." Finn smiled.

Marceline and Finn did exactly as they had planned. They scarfed down greasy burgers and fries while rapidly slamming controller buttons and talking trash. Marceline had made it a point to medicate and hydrate Finn, feeling partially responsible for his brutal hangover by bullying him into being her beer pong partner. It was a nice Saturday. She had opened up the windows to let in the breeze and the white noise of cars and passersby on the street below. By the time early evening rolled around, it seemed like Finn was feeling normal again. His video game trash talking was getting louder with each passing round, though Marceline nearly always won. _I should let him win one- Nah- Losing builds character._

"I think you're cheating, man." Finn said. "I should've won that last one!"

"Yeah, but you didn't."

"Whatever, I'm totally gonna have you this time."

"If you say so." Marceline laughed.

"I do!" Finn shouted.

"Alright, well if we're gonna keep doing this, I'm gonna need a drink." Marceline said, getting up from the couch. "You want one?"

"No, I'm good." Finn grimaced, no doubt remembering how terrible he felt just hours ago.

"Fine, I'd rather not share anyway." She teased. Marceline grabbed a glass and a bottle of vodka from the kitchen. She looked at the glass. _Ah, fuck it, it's Saturday._ She thought before setting the glass down and taking a swig straight from the bottle. Finn cringed at the sight.

"How can you even do that?"

"Years of training." She laughed. On her way back to the couch, she heard a phone ring. She could see hers from where she was standing, and it laid still, screen dark. "I think that's your phone, Finn." She said.

"Yeah, it's in here somewhere." He said. Marceline tried not to laugh as she watched him fight with the folds of the bean bag chair to find his phone before he missed the call. On it's fifth ring, he managed to grab and answer it. "Hey man." He said into the phone. "Yeah. Yeah okay. Okay rad, I'll see you soon." He hung up and turned to Marceline. "Hey, so Jake wants to take me on a tour of campus or whateves, you wanna come?"

"Nah, I'm good. You guys go ahead."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'll probably just chill here and write or something."

"Alright meng. He said he was close by, so I'm gonna go wait outside. Text me if you get bored and wanna hang later."

"Will do." Marceline said. She smirked as she watched Finn pull a white beanie out of his backpack and put it on, fixing his hair.

"Later." He smiled at her.

"Later dude." She said as he shut the door behind him.

 _Well, nothing left to do now but get drunk._ Marceline thought to herself, taking another swig of the vodka. She set it down and finally deflated the air mattress, rolling it up for storage. She was surprised at how normal the apartment looked despite having three extra occupants for the night. _Probably because everyone came here and immediately passed out._ She laughed to herself, remembering having to break in through the window because of her sleeping friends. That jogged another memory and she stared down at her right hand. There was a ghost of a bruise along her first two knuckles. _I can't believe I knocked that guy out. Totally had it coming though. What an asshole creep. That's some shit Ash would've done. Ew._ She sat down at her desk and pulled out a small notebook. She flipped quickly through the pages, looking for one that wasn't yet covered by untidy handwriting. _What to write, what to write-_ She tapped the back of a pen against the page. Much to her frustration, she couldn't seem to tear her thoughts away from the events of the night before, or more specifically, a certain pink haired girl. _Fuck. I gotta stop being so weird and clingy. I barely even know the girl._ She frustratedly set the pen down and took a long gulp of vodka, cringing a little. _This is so dumb. She's a total nerd. And it's not even like she's that cute._ She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to picture her face more clearly. _Alright, fine, she is cute. Very cute._ She thought, picturing how Bonnie's nose scrunched up when she laughed, and how she looked when Marceline could've swore they were flirting. _Okay, she's hot, whatever. But Finn likes her, and she's probably a total square who thinks kissing girls is weird. Ugh._ Marceline took another sip of vodka and finally put her pen to paper to write.

She wasn't sure how long she had been writing or how many pages she had filled with lyrics and ideas, but the blazing orange light from the windows had disappeared, now replaced by a soft blue-ish glow. She stood up to turn on the light, now unable to see what she was writing. She could feel the booze creeping into her system, making her limbs feel heavy. She grinned. _Man, I love alcohol._ As she sat back down, she noticed her phone sitting out on her desk. _Maybe I should call her- Invite her over._ She grabbed the phone and quickly tapped on the not yet saved number she had dialed last night.

"Hello?" Bonnie said on the other line.

"Hey!" Marceline shouted into the phone. She laughed a little, not yet hearing her own voice since she had started drinking.

"Marceline?" Bonnie asked, laughing a little at her strange tone.

"What are you doing right now?" Marceline asked, enthusiastically.

"Uh, sitting on my bed."

"Come over." Marceline said.

"What? Now?" Bonnie asked, sounding slightly alarmed.

"Yes. Come over."

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why should I come over?"

"Because I'm tipsy and Finn left to go hang out with his brother and I'm boredddd." Marceline whined.

Bonnie couldn't help but laugh at the contrast in their sobriety. "I don't know Marceline, are you sure we want to push our luck?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, hanging out two nights in a row? That's gotta be setting us up for failure." Marceline couldn't see it, but she was certain that Bonnie was smiling as she said it.

"Oh, shut up. Stop being a nerd and come over."

"Are you always this persistent?"

"Yes. So when will you be here?"

"Marceline-"

"Come on, what else are you doing tonight?"

"Reading, actually. There have been a couple amazing studies published recently that I've been meaning to get around to-"

"Oh boo, you can do your nerd shit any day-"

"Calling me a nerd isn't the best way to get something you want, you know."

"Then what is?"

"You could ask nicely."

 _I can't believe this girl._ "What, do you want me to beg?" Marceline teased. "I didn't expect you to be into that kind of thing."

"Marceline!"

"What? That was funny."

"It was so not." Bonnie laughed.

"So when are you coming over?"

"Now, I guess." Bonnie sighed. "You know, because you're so desperate-"

"Uh huh, sure. Just call me when you're outside."

"Fine, bye." Bonnie said.

"Byeeeee." Marceline said before hanging up. She grinned to herself. _This is going to be good. Very good._ She reached for the bottle of vodka and drank a little, looking around the living room. Everything seemed to be presentable. She looked down at herself. _Shit, I should change, I've been wearing these clothes for two days now-_ She rushed to her bedroom, quickly pulling off her clothes and swapping them for a pair of dark blue jeans and a grey tank top. She looked herself over in the mirror and once she decided she was satisfied, she walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She struggled to control her mess of thick hair, but with a brush and some determination, she managed to get most of it to lie flat. _Alrighttttttt look at me, looking hot. Totally hot._

Marceline returned the the living room to drink some more and prep the area for the arrival of her guest. She turned off the tv and the video game she was playing with Finn, and put on some music instead. _Alright, this is good. This is a cool vibe. I'm so good at this._ She thought to herself, sitting back on the couch. _Oh shit. I've gotta do something about this couch-_ She sprung up, only tripping a little as she rushed into her room to grab as many pillows and blankets as she could. She threw them down on to the couch, and started testing the comfort level. _Is Bonnie going to be able to sit here? Could we make out here if the moment came? Is it tooooo comfortable? If she sleeps over is she gonna want to sleep on the couch? Shit._ Marceline was still trying to find the most comfortable arrangement when Bonnie called to say she was outside. She tried her best to look calm, normal and sober as she answered the door.

Bonnie smiled at the sight of her friend.

"Hey." She said.

"Heyyyyy." Marceline smiled back. They stared awkwardly at each other for a moment. "Well, you know, come in or whatever." She laughed, turning to lead the way upstairs.

"So how much have you had to drink so far?" Bonnie asked, following her.

"Only like, five or six shots worth, I think." She shrugged. "I've been drinking straiiiight from the bottle though, so who knows." Marceline laughed. "Don't worry though, you can still catch up."

"I'm not sure I want to." Bonnie laughed.

"Oh come on," Marceline said, "I'm not gonna let you stay sober just so you can laugh at my drunk ass." She laughed.

"Why not?" Bonnie asked. "That sounds like fun."

Marceline grabbed the bottle of vodka and thrust it into Bonnie's hands. "Drink."

"Ew, I can't drink it like this." She scrunched up her nose in disgust.

"Fineeeeeee." Marceline said. "Get a mixer from the fridge and let's get started."

Bonnie poured herself some cranberry juice and Marceline insisted on pouring the vodka in it herself, which resulted in a drink that was way too strong. Bonnie sipped on it every so often, much to Marceline's encouragement. They sat on the couch, Marceline with her legs crossed so she could face her friend. With the music on, an hour had slipped by and they had fallen into easy conversation.

"So you kinda hit the jackpot, being roommates with your best friend and shit." Marceline said.

"Well, we requested each other." Bonnie said, taking a sip of her drink. "But yeah, I guess when we met I was lucky that I spoke Korean."

"Does she only speak a little bit of English?"

"Actually, she speaks better English than you." Bonnie chuckled. "She's just self conscious about her accent so she prefers not to. You know how people are."

"Yeah, I got you. That's cool though." Marceline said. "You still talk to any of your old roommates?"

"No, not at all actually. We didn't really get along-"

"Were they totally bugged out by your science experiments?" She laughed.

"I didn't do them in the room!" Bonnie said defensively.

"I don't believe you."

"Fine," she sighed, "it was one time, and then she went and called the RA-"

Marceline laughed. "What'd you do?"

"I was just testing a mild regenerative solution on my rat-"

"You do _not_ have a lab rat." She laughed harder.

"His name is Science." Bonnie laughed too, head bowed.

"You brought a rat into your dorm!" Marceline cracked up. "Oh man, now I get why the roommate thing didn't work out for you."

"Clearly it didn't work out for _you_ , either."

"You're right. It didn't."

"What, did you keep everyone else up at night playing instruments?" She teased.

"Well, when I was a freshman I lived off campus with my boyfriend. Ick." Marceline said, making a disgusted face. _Fucking Ash. What a piece of shit. Fuck him-_

"Boyfriend, huh?" Bonnie asked, sounding slightly surprised.

"Yeah. He was human garbage." Marceline said, suddenly looking angry.

"How so?"

"Well, aside from being verbally abusive and completely manipulative, he used to steal my shit and sell it to buy things for himself-" _Like fucking Hambo-_

"That's awful!"

"Yeah, I'm glad I got the nerve to ditch that asshole." _Not soon enough though. Ugh._

"Does he still go here?"

"No, dropped out years ago. What a douche." Marceline said, taking a swig of vodka.

"I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's cool. I think it's better that I learned about shitty relationships early on, because now I've got plenty of time to recover." Marceline laughed, but Bonnie grimaced. "What? You gotta be able to laugh about the fucked up shit that happens to you."

"Like, as a coping mechanism?"

"Duh." Marceline laughed. "Best coping mechanism around." _Next to making friends with cute girls- Should I try to kiss her? No. I'm drunk. That's dumb. That would be bad._

"So what about your other roommates?" Bonnie asked, sipping her drink.

"Well when I was a sophomore I had one who I totally did keep up at night with my music-"

"I knew it!" She laughed.

"But last year, oh man, my roommates last year were the reason I moved into my own place."

"What happened?"

"Well, really it was just the one girl-" Marceline laughed. "Totally crazy. She was obsessed with me."

"Oh come on-"

"No dude, I'm serious. She was obsessed with me and hated my guts at the same time." Marceline said.

"You sure you weren't just being a little full of yourself?"

"Listen okay, one of the first days I got there, I was eating a Lunchable, because I'm an adult and no one can tell me what to spend my money on-"

"Lunchable?" Bonnie asked, confused.

"Come on, don't tell me you've never had one. You remember, they have the little packs with pizza ingredients and you assemble it yourself-"

"Oh, you mean those things people give their children for lunch-" Bonnie mocked.

"Don't start with me, this is serious shit." Marceline laughed.

"Alright, alright, what happened with your Lunchable?" Bonnie smirked.

"So I was sitting there, halfway into my pizza, and this bitch walks in the room and starts making fun of me for eating a Lunchable!" Marceline shouted.

"I would have too."

 _God, what a square._ "No, I get it, whatever, some people are totally lame and boring-"

"Hey!" Bonnie interjected.

"But her making fun of me wasn't the worst part!" Marceline whined.

"Then what was?"

"The next day, I opened the fridge to get a soda, and in there I see that this bitch bought like eight Lunchables for herself!"

"That's really weird." Bonnie laughed.

"I know!" Marceline shouted. "And that wasn't the weirdest part!"

"What was?"

"Well, after the first week of school she only spoke to me if our other roommate was in the room too."

"What?" Bonnie asked, confused.

"Yeah! Like if just me and her were there she would ignore me completely." _Man, she was really nuts._

"That's insane." She laughed.

"And! I caught her listening to my music in the shower!"

"No way." Bonnie shook her head.

"Way! It happened!" Marceline shouted. Bonnie tried to contain her laughter. "It was nuts, man. I swore she was going to murder me and try to wear my skin or something." _I wonder if she's torturing her new roommate. What if she still internet stalks me? That would be hilarious._

"Well, I'm glad she didn't."

"Aw, Bon, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me." Marceline said in mock gratitude.

"We've known each other for two days." Bonnie deadpanned.

"I know! I can't believe it's taken this long. Normally by this point I have people sending me gifts and showering me in affection-" _Take a hint, Bon._

"Has anyone ever told you that you're incredibly vain?" She laughed.

 _Great, now she probably thinks I'm an asshole._ "Oh come on, I know you're smarter than that." Marceline half-smiled.

"Smarter than what?"

"Smarter than to believe that I actually like myself as much as I say I do." Marceline said, staring down at her hands.

"I guess not. You had me fooled." Bonnie shrugged.

"It's pretty helpful." Marceline chuckled. "You start faking being confident and then you actually get more confident. Assholes can't fuck over confident people. They pick out people who are insecure."

"So this goes back to that ex-boyfriend thing?" Bonnie asked, eyes calculating, yet concerned.

"Some of it, yeah. But I have to be confident to make it anywhere in music, too."

"Right." Bonnie nodded.

"So what about you?" Marceline asked.

"What about me?"

"Do you have any evil exes?"

"No." Bonnie said. "I actually only have one ex, and him and I didn't last long."

"Seriously?" Marceline asked. "Don't tell me it was that Ricardo dude-"

"No, Ricardio is just a guy I was lab partners with once. You'd we were engaged though, with the way he acts." Bonnie sighed.

"So what, you're just constantly shutting down alllllll of your endlesssss suitors?" Marceline teased.

"Shut up." Bonnie laughed. "It's not like that. I just never really got into the whole dating thing."

"Why not? You're hot." Marceline said. _Aw shit._

Bonnie blushed. "I don't know."

"Are you interested in it at all? Like, does seeing a hot dude turn you on?" _Or hot lady perhaps?_

Bonnie blushed a deeper shade of pink. "I mean, yes, I find people attractive- But- I don't know. I guess I have a hard time relating to people."

 _Did she just say people? As in anyone? As in includes ladies? As in me? Me?_ "Ah, so it's because you're such a brainlord ultra geek-"

"Shut up!" Bonnie said, lightly shoving her friend.

"Well, you could have anyone you wanted, you know." Marceline said. _Shit. Was that sappy? Fuck-_ "You know, cause everyone likes a hot nerd." _Nice save, weirdo. Totally not creepy._

"Oh yeah?" Bonnie asked laughing a little and still blushing.

"Yeah, come on, it's the basis for like a billion teen movies." She said. "You know, like when they take the nerdy girl's glasses off and she stops acting so smart and then everyone realizes she was totally hot-"

"I don't wear glasses."

"Or do you?" Marceline asked.

"I don't-" Bonnie started, but she was cut off by Marceline's hands on her face. She had pressed her fingers and thumbs together to form circles around Bonnie's eyes.

"See? Glasses." Marceline laughed. Bonnie couldn't help but laugh too. "And now look," Marceline said while moving her hands away. "With the glasses off you're totally hot."

"I guess it's a good thing I already don't wear glasses-"

"Oh no, what you lack in glasses you make up for in being a mega nerd."

"Hey!" Bonnie shouted in defense. They laughed together. Marceline became very aware of how closely together they were sitting now.

"Well, you know," Marceline swallowed. "A hot mega nerd."


	4. The Rescue Mission

**Hey there friends! Welcome back. To everyone who's reviewed so far, I love you. Thanks a billion. And to everyone who's read along silently, I love you too, though I'm not gonna lie, I love you less than the reviewers. :P I hope you all continue to dig what I'm doing.**

The tension was crippling. Marceline couldn't move away from or any closer to the girl in front of her. _Fuck. Fuck. I should kiss her. I should kiss her right now._ She stared at Bonnie, who did not meet her eyes. She could feel how hot her cheeks were, though whether from the alcohol or embarrassment, she couldn't tell. _What do I do? Leave her alone?_ Just as she shifted another inch towards her, Bonnie looked up.

"What?" She asked, smiling.

"Nothing." Marceline said. _I gotta stop. I'm so bad at making friends._

"Seriously, you okay?" Bonnie asked.

 _Man, why is she being all nice?_ "Your niceness is freaking me out." Marceline said.

"Would you rather me be mean?" She laughed.

"I guess not." Marceline said quietly. _I gotta get it together. Okay. This is totally normal. I'm totally cool. Totally cool and mysterious and drunk and cool._ Marceline smirked to herself. _I love alcohol._

"Good, it would be hard to revert, anyway. I'm nicer when I drink." Bonnie laughed, taking a sip from her glass.

"I can tell." Marceline laughed. "How do you feel?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, booze-wise."

"Oh." Bonnie thought for a moment, drooping her head from side to side. "Good. Tipsy."

"Tipsy is a good word." Marceline laughed. "Great word actually. You ever notice how many different words for drunk there are? Like, tipsy is tipsy, but then there's drunk and trashed and wasted and hammered and sloshed and slizzard-" Bonnie erupted in laughter, leaning partially onto Marceline for support.

"Slizzard?" She asked between gasps. Her laughter caused Marceline to laugh, too.

"Yeah man, you've never heard of being slizzard?"

"No! Please tell me you just made that up."

"I really didn't. It's a real thing."

"That's unbelieveable."

"I know. The world is a strange place." Marceline laughed. They looked at each other, smiling. Bonniel sat half leaned over Marceline's lap. The air felt still. Music continued to play, but Marceline hardly noticed it. _Shit. I've gotta do it now._ She reached up to put her hand on Bonnie's cheek. She looked at Marceline, curiously, but made no attempt to move away. _Okay. Just do it. I can do it._ Marceline took a deep breath, trying to stir in some of the sense she had left with her sobriety. _What's the worst that can happen?_ She thought, beginning the motion to bring their lips together.

 _VVVVRRRRRRMMMMM VRRRRRRMM_

The sudden noise shocked her out of her concentration, she jumped back from Bonnie. "What the fuck was that?" Marceline asked, startled. She stared at Bonnie who was biting her lip to keep from smiling.

"I think it's your phone." Bonnie said, trying not to laugh.

 _My phone? Fuck. Duh._ "Whatever." Marceline huffed. She stood up and grabbed the vibrating phone from off of the desk where she hadn't realized she had left it. "What?" She threateningly asked the other line.

"MarcyIneedyourhelp!" Finn yelled from the other end. There was a lot of background noise, music and other voices. _Oh no. I've had too much to drink to deal with all this-_

"What's the probs?" She sighed.

"Jake took me to this party and I started drinking and somehow I accidentally made this girl fall in love with me and now she won't leave me alone and I don't know what to do can you come scare her or something please I don't want to be mean-"

 _Leave it to Finn to turn attracting girls into a problem._ Marceline laughed. "Alright, calllllllm down. Text me the address. Me and Bonnie will be there soon." _Shit- Should I not have mentioned her?-_

"Bonnibel is with you? Aw man I'm not ready for all this how am I gonna impress her and scare off this other girl at the same time?" He whined.

"Relax, it'll be fine."

"Oh no she's coming back-" Finn said quickly. "Hurry!" The line went silent.

"Well," Marceline said, turning to Bonnie. "Looks like we're going to another party."

"Do we have to?" Bonnie asked quietly. "I was enjoying myself here." _Shit. Is she saying she'd rather be alone together? Shit shit-_

"Yeah, kinda do. I wanna stay here, but Finn is getting stalked by some girl and he needs me to scare her off." Marceline sighed.

"How noble of you." Bonnie teased.

"Yeah, well, that's me. Super noble." She shrugged.

"Noble, dark, mysterious, polite-"

"Shut up." Marceline said, fighting back a smirk. "You can just, you know, hang here if you want. I won't take long."

"Like how finding my phone last night wasn't supposed to take long?"

"Okay, but that whole thing could've been avoided if someoneeeee checked her bag better." Marceline said, pointing a finger. Marceline's phone vibrated, signaling Finn's text with the address. She glanced at it. It was missing a few letters, but she could understand the street name.

"Whatever!" Bonnie defended. "Plus, what am I supposed to do here all by myself?" _I could think of a few things-_

"I guess you're right, just figured I'd offer." She said. Bonnie stood to follow her, Marceline made sure to grab her keys. "Hey, maybe when we get there you can pretend to be Finn's girlfriend. I bet he'd love that."

"Stop it." Bonnie blushed slightly, as they walked out of the apartment and on to the street.

"What? He would."

"You didn't tell him I wasn't interested?"

"I did. Sort of. In a nice way." _Not really._

"Marceline."

"What? I did!" She said, raising her hands in defense. "He just now thinks he has to impress you to get your attention-" _and wants me to help. Poor guy. Oh well, I guess. I'll deal with that when I'm less drunk._

"Should I tell him myself?"

"No! You'll hurt his feelings, he's a sensitive little dude." Marceline laughed. "Also I'm laughing because of the booze, not because I'm not serious."

"Oh come on."

"What? Booze makes me laugh." Marceline said.

"No, about Finn."

"Oh, yeah, I mean it Bon. I'll take care of it. Don't you worry." Marceline swayed, patting her friend on the arm. Bonnie laughed at her stumbling.

"Hopefully we make it there." She teased.

She pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket, checking her messages for the address again. "Whatever." Marceline laughed. "I'm not even thaaaaat drunk." _Wait, am I that drunk? How drunk is that drunk? Drunk. Alcohol is the best._ Marceline tripped over a section of uneven pavement. Bonnie laughed.

"Do you need help?" She asked through a grin.

"No." Marceline growled, accidentally dropping her phone.

"Fineeeee," Marceline whined. She picked her phone up and thrust it into Bonnie's hand. "You can lead. But if we get lost or Finn gets kidnapped it's on you."

"I think we'll be alright." Bonnie said, holding out her hand. Instead, Marceline took hold of her arm linking them together.

When they had reached the block, Bonnie handed the phone back to Marceline. It was obvious where they were going. A mass of college kids seemed to be buzzing about the area, in and out of a large house with a wraparound porch.

"Is this another frat party?" Bonnie asked as they got closer.

"Is it? Ugh." She groaned.

"I've been to more frat parties this weekend than I have in the entire rest of my college career." Bonnie laughed.

"Same here. Fucking Jake." Marceline said. The greek letters above the doorway were now visible, along with the grins of guys in muscle shirts and shorts that dotted the lawn. _God I fucking hate all these assholes-_ "We've just gotta get in, rescue Finn, and get out." Marceline said as they climbed the porch steps. Once they were inside, however, the plan seemed a lot less simple. _Shit._ If she hadn't still been holding Bonnie's arm, she probably would've lost her in the massive crowd. It was like nothing she had ever seen. The stately looking house was packed from wall to wall with intoxicated young adults. Music blared from a dj booth to the right of them, pulsing laser lights and glowsticks cutting through the dark. It seemed as though they had walked right into the dance floor. "Shit, come on." Marceline yelling over the music. She tugged on Bonnie's arm, trying to lead them away from the dj. "Move!" She yelled, shoving over a couple grinding on each other.

When they managed to get out of the crowd, Marceline turned to Bonnie to speak, but she had a strange expression. _Oh no. What happened? Did she suddenly realize I'm weird and my friends are weird and she should've just stayed home?_

"You okay?" Marceline asked, cautiously.

"I think someone in there grabbed my butt." Bonnie said, looking back.

"Seriously? Did you see who did it? I swear to God I'll fuck someone up-" _I'll cut off his fucking hands- How dare you touch a girl without permission-_

"Woah, relax." Bonnie laughed. "Are you always violent when you drink?"

"Probably. I just can't stand assholes. Think they can get away with anything they want-" _I swear to god I'll knock another asshole out-_

"Hey, relax, okay?" Bonnie asked. She grabbed Marceline by the shoulders and held her in place until she was sure she had calmed down. "We still have to find Finn."

"Right." Marceline said, trying to put her rage on the backburner.

"Do you think he could be in there?" Bonnie said, pointing back to the dancefloor.

"I sure as hell hope not. We'll never find him." Marceline said. "Come on, let's walk around." They followed as closely to the walls as they possibly could, trying to avoid the more densely packed areas. They both searched for Finn, but were having no luck. In fact, they hadn't seen _anyone_ they knew. _Fuck. This is hopeless. Maybe he left with Jake._

"Have you tried calling him?" Bonnie asked.

 _Duh. I'm so dumb._ "No. I will right now." Marceline pulled out her phone and called Finn. There was no answer. She strained her eyes in the darkness, trying to look farther. She caught a glimpse of familiarity in the distance. _I know that girl- Oh shit-_ "Oh my god." Marceline said suddenly, turning in the opposite direction.

"What? Bonnie asked. "What's the problem?"

"I can't believe this." Marceline said, hands covering her face. She crouched a little, taking cover behind a line of guys waiting to do a keg stand.

"What?" Bonnie asked. She bent down eyes wide with concern.

"I thought I'd never see her again-"

"Who?" Bonnie demanded.

"My old roommate! The crazy one I was just telling you about!" Marceline shouted.

"She's here?" Bonnie asked, straightening up to look around.

"Yeah! Oh man you gotta hide me." Marceline said, scanning in front and to the sides of her for potential threats.

"Maybe she won't even talk to you, didn't you say she ignored you most of the time?"

"Yeah, but that was when we lived together." Marceline sighed. "She requested me as her roommate again for this year. She called me all summer."

"Seriously?" Bonnie laughed.

"Yeah! She left me all kinds of weird voicemails-" Marceline started, glancing over her shoulder. "Shit."

"Hey, there's Finn!" Bonnie said, pointing across the party to the lanky blonde boy. Marceline followed her pointing, ready to form the most direct route to her friend. He stood alone, white hat glowing under blacklight. He was holding a red cup, glancing quickly from side to side. They watched as he started taking steps backward and Marceline followed his eyeline to the site of what scared him.

"Oh no." Marceline said, quickly ducking back down.

"What?" Bonnie asked, keeping eyes on Finn.

"It's her." Marceline said, arms now covering her face.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean it's her! The girl Finn needs me to scare off. Shit." Marceline said quickly. Bonnie watched as a short chubby girl with curly purple hair walked up to Finn, pulling off his hat. She dangled it in front of him, shaking her chest in the process.

"The one with purple hair?" Bonnie asked.

"Yes." Marceline said. She grabbed Bonnie by the arm and pulled her down to her level. "We need a plan."

"You can't just go over there and talk to her?"

"No!" Marceline shouted. "I had to change my number, Bon. I missed a call from a guy at an indie label because I thought it was her using a different number. I listened to hours worth of voicemails just to see if she threatened to murder me and wear my skin in any of them-"

"Did she?"

"No, but-"

"I can't believe you're scared of her." Bonnie laughed.

"I'm not!" Marceline said, crossing her arms.

"You seem pretty scared." She teased.

"I just hate feeling awkward."

"No one likes feeling awkward, Marceline."

"Whatever. If I go over there she's gonna follow us home and then she'll know where I live and then she'll be free to stalk my life all over again." Marceline pouted. "Just go over there and tell her she needs to back off because he's your boyfriend."

"Why does this feel like an elaborate plot to get me to date your friend?"

"Ohmygod it's not. Please Bon. Quick so we can get the fuck outta here." Marceline said.

"Fine" Bonnie huffed. A second later, she was gone. Marceline watched from behind the heads of strangers as she walked up to Finn and embraced him. It was too dark to tell for sure, but Marceline was certain he was blushing. Bonnie entered into what looked like confrontation with the purple haired girl. She tried to creep closer without revealing herself, wanting to know what was happening.

Bonnie had stepped in front of Finn, defensively. _She's pretty hot when she's out picking a fight-_

The purple haired girl now looked livid in the dim light. She raised her hands, using them to punctuate aggressive words that Marceline couldn't make out. _Maybe I should step in- Nah, Bonnie's got this-_ She watched as her friend apparently yelled back, judging by the way the purple haired girl took a step away from her. _Fuck yeah, Bon. Now just get Finn and let's go._ She watched as Bonnie turned to Finn and said something. He nodded, and they both turned toward where Marceline was hidden, apparently ready to leave. Just as Bonnie took another step away, Marceline saw the purple haired girl return, rushing up to grab a fistfull of Bonnie's hair. _Oh fuck no._

Marceline jumped up from her cover and rushed over toward them. Bonnie was now being pulled toward the ground by the ex-roommate, as Finn tried to pull them apart. "You guys! Stop! Seriously!" She heard Finn yell.

"Hey!" Marceline yelled. The three of them all looked up at her.

"Marceline?" The purple haired girl asked. Her voice made Marceline cringe. "Is that you?" She was in a too-tight, too short purple dress, with bright red lipstick and a gold star pinned into her hair. _God, you haven't changed at all._

"Let her go before I make you."

"Geez, Marce when did you get so rude? The least you can do it say hellooooo." She said, standing up. Bonnie glared while standing up when she released the grip on her hair.

"Hello. Also goodbye. Don't fuck with any of my friends ever again."

"Is that a threat?"

"Do you want it to be?" Marceline growled. Bonnie took her friend by the arm.

"Let's go, Marceline." Bonnie said, tugging.

"Fine." Marceline said quietly. She let Bonnie lead her out, while Finn walked in front of them. They pushed through the more crowded areas in relative silence. Suddenly, Bonnie stopped walking and started to look around. "What's the matter?" Marceline asked.

"Someone touched my butt again!" Bonnie yelled.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Marceline asked, looking around too. She noticed a guy to her left, staring at Bonnie and smirking. Marceline unwrapped herself from Bonnie's arm and walked up to him. "Hey! I bet you think you're real funny, huh?" She growled. _I will fucking gut you, you slimy cretin-_

"I don't know what you're talking about." He responded, still smirking. He was only a few inches taller than Marceline, wearing a neon muscle top and holding a red cup.

"So you didn't grope my friend?" _Please give me a reason to knock out your teeth-_

"Maybe I didn't, maybe I did." He laughed. "What are you gonna do about it?"

For the second time in two nights, Marceline watched in slow motion as her fist connected with a stranger's jaw. Though, this time he didn't hit the floor right away. He stumbled backward, tripping over the feet of another party-goer, spilling his drink all over himself and the people standing next to him.

"Shit, let's get the fuck out of here." Marceline said to Bonnie. Just as she moved to run, she felt something catch her ankle and she hit the ground face first. _Ow! Motherfucker._ She picked herself up just in time to see Finn jump in and throw a few punches.

"You- Should- Never- Hurt- Ladies!" Finn yelled between blows. He stood over the stranger, who was now bleeding.

"Yo, call security!" Someone nearby shouted.

"Finn!" Marceline yelled. He stopped, turning to look at her. "Let's get out of here."

The three of them managed to slip out of the party without drawing any more attention to themselves, and started to run back home. Crazed laughter rung out into the quiet street as they finally started to slow, catching their breaths.

"Man, this is amazing! I feel amazing! Maybe next we should go swimming!" Finn said.

"Maybe we should just get home." Marceline laughed. _Well I guess this is one way to sober up-_

"Aw man." Finn said. He ran ahead of them, zigzagging. _What a weird kid._

Marceline chuckled to herself. She turned to Bonnie. "You really get yourself into a lot of altercations, huh? We've known each other for two days and I've already had to swing at two different people for you-"

"Hey! You're the one who does all of the altercating!" Bonnie laughed, shoving her friend lightly.

"Is that a word?" Marceline laughed.

"Not at all." Bonnie giggled.

"So, I'd say our second frat party was a success, right?"

"If you define success by how quickly we can run out of somewhere, then yeah. Pre-tty successful." She smirked.

They walked in silence for a little while. "So, what do we do now?" Marceline asked. "I mean like, should I walk you home so I can knock the lights out of creeps?"

Bonnie laughed a little. "I'm not sure what to do. I don't know if Lady is going to bring Jake back to our room."

"Well, you're always welcome in my bed." Marceline said. _Oh grod-_ Bonnie giggled. "That came out wrong." Marceline laughed a little, rubbing the back of her neck with her hand.

"Yeah yeah." Bonnie said. "Come on." She stood and grabbed Marceline by the hand, pulling her to follow.

"We should probably stop by the Blues, you know, as an alibi."

"Finn still has that guy's blood all over his hands." Bonnie said, gesturing to the blonde boy ahead of them.

"Shit. Alright. Well, let's just hope everyone at the party is too trashed to call campus police." Marceline said.

A loud banging on the door startled Marceline awake. _Shit! She must have found me! Followed us home! Shit!_

"Marce! Open the door!" A voice shouted. _Is that- Keila?_ Next to her, Bonnie woke up too. Though whether it was from the sound, or her sudden movement, Marceline didn't know.

"Who is that?" Bonnie asked while rubbing her eyes.

"Come on Marce, I know you're home! I just wanna make sure you didn't choke to death on your own vomit or anything-"

"Kei! Shut up!" Marceline yelled back in frustration. "Sorry." She said to Bonnie who looked startled. "I'll be right back, I'm gonna go answer her." Marceline got up from the bed, awkwardly climbing over Bonnie's legs. _Shit. She had to come while Bonnie was over- I guess I could just say hi and then tell her to leave-_ She walked to the living room where Finn was still asleep, face down on the bean bag chair. She opened the door just as Keila moved to knock again.

"Hey, look who's alive." Keila said sarcastically. Her dark curls bounced as she spoke.

"Were you expecting me not to be?" Marceline yawned.

"Yeah. Last night you texted me saying you ran into your demon ex-roommate and if you turned up murdered, that was why."

"Did I? I don't remember that at all."

"Yeah, I figured you were drunk so I thought I should come and check on you." Keila said.

"Well luckily for you, I survived."

"Yeah, whatever." Keila smirked. "So you gonna let me in or have you banished me to your doorway?"

"Now's actually not the best time-" Marceline started, but Keila pushed passed her into the living room. She took a seat on the couch, still piled with pillows and blankets from last night.

"You know, all this makes this couch halfway comfortable." Keila said, patting down the pillows. She noticed Finn on the bean bag chair. "You didn't tell me the little dude was in town."

"I didn't know until after you already left for the weekend." Marceline said, closing the door and leaning against it. "Speaking of that, why are you back early?"

"Helloooo I thought you died, remembs?"

"No you didn't."

"Okay, you're right. Home was somehow even more boring than hanging out here." Keila sighed. "Why are you being weird?" She asked, suddenly noticing Marceline hadn't sat down.

"I'm not!" She said.

"What's going on?" Keila asked, lowering her eyes suspiciously.

"Nothing's going on." Marceline said. "It's just not a great time. Finn is still passed out, plus I'm sure he's gotta bounce soonish. Why don't you call me later and we can hang out?"

"Or you can just wake him up." Keila said.

"Kei."

"Marce."

"What?" Marceline asked.

"Why are you being weird?"

"I'm not b-" Marceline stopped short, as Bonnie entered the room. "Oh, hey." Marceline said quietly to her. _Shit. This is awkward. Pleeeease don't embarrass me, Kie-_

"Ohhhh," Keila said, grinning. "Now I get it. You could've just told me you had a lady over."

"It's not like that." Marceline said, trying in vain to fight back her blush.

"Riiiiight. Sure."

"No dude, Finn likes her-"

"What, like that's stopped you before?" Keila laughed. _Oh my fucking god-_ She turned to Bonnie. "I'm sorry, I'm being rude. I'm Keila." She said.

"Bonnibel." She responded curtly.

"I dig the hair, girl. It works for you." Keila smiled.

"Uh, thank you." Bonnie said, not sure whether she could trust the compliment.

Marceline faked a cough. She caught Keila's eye and looked from her to the door. "Right, sorry. Uh, I guess I'll head out." Keila said, grinning as she got up from the couch. "It was nice to meet you Bonnibel, hopefully we'll see each other again soon, yeah?" She said as Marceline nearly pushed her out of the door. "We have a show coming up soon!"

"Bye Kei." Marceline said, practically slamming the door. _Oh I am going to murder her-_ She walked over to Bonnie, leading her back to the bedroom. She shut the door behind them and they both took a seat on the bed.

"What was that all about?" Bonnie asked, part amused and part bewildered.

"That's just Keila. She has a terrible habit of saying whatever pops into that little brain of her's."

"That's not what I meant." Bonnie said.

"Then what did you mean?"

"You know what I meant."

"I don't." Marceline said.

"She was implying a lot of things-" _Like the fact that I'm interested in you, like I'm a bad friend, like I have a revolving door of women- Oh yeah, thanks a lot Kei._

"Yeah." Marceline shrugged. "She does that."

"Were they true?" Bonnie asked.

"How about we just pretend this never happened and that my friends aren't huge assholes."

"Is that why you didn't want to mention I was here?"

"What do you mean?" Marceline asked.

"Because you think your friends are assholes?"

"They are assholes. I am too. But yeah, pretty much. I wasn't trying to let her scare you off." She smirked.

"Why not?" Bonnie asked, smirking too.

"Because then who will I cheat off of in Org Chem this semester?"

"Oh, whatever." Bonnie said.

"What, do you want me to say something corny like, I like having you around?" Marceline said.

"Yeah, that works." Bonnie laughed.

"Fine." Marceline said, letting out an exaggerated sigh. "I like having you around, princess."


	5. The Rock Show

**Hello again! You asked, I delivered. Here's another update. Just don't tell my boss I was writing this instead of working, okay? Thanks for keeping my secrets, internet strangers. Review, review, blah blah blah.**

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"Come on, Bon. You promised." Marceline groaned into the phone. She held it to her ear with her shoulder as she pulled on a pair of black jeans. She walked to the mirror and checked herself out. _Do I look hot enough? Hmm. Maybe open flannel with no shirt? Is it cold? Crop top?_

"I know I did, but I don't know." Bonnie sighed from the other line. "I'm not sure if I'm quite ready for this. Plus I have a lot of homework to do-"

"Oh come on, don't be such a nerd." Marceline said, pulling off her shirt and exchanging it for a black crop top. _Where's that one flannel that matches my boots?_

" _Some_ of us actually care about our GPA, you know."

"Oh I know. It's the only reason I'm passing Org Chem right now, so thanks." Marceline laughed, while pulling a flannel from a pile of clothes on the floor.

"I really should stop letting you cheat off of me, it's immoral."

"Yeah but wouldn't you feel totally guilty letting me fail?" She said, looking herself over in the mirror again. _Alright, hell yeah. I look good. I'd probably fuck me._

"Not really." Bonnie said.

"Whatever! Are you ready or not?"

"Ugh, fine, I guess I'll get ready now. What the heck do I even wear?"

"You do own sneakers, don't you?" She teased.

"Yes I own sneakers." Bonnie said, unamused.

"Okay, so wear those. And like, jeans. Just normal clothes." Marceline said, patting herself down to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything.

"Fine." Bonnie huffed.

"Be there in fifteen." Marceline said, hanging up the phone. _Okay, keys- Got them. Phone, check, wallet, got it. Is that everything?_ She thought, taking a last glance around her living room. _Ah shit- the tickets._ She walked over to her desk and grabbed a white envelope, removing the thick printed tickets and stuffing them into her wallet. _Alright, now I have everything._ She quickly left the apartment, locking the door behind her. The street was dark when she got outside, she checked the time. _Okay, it's seven thirty now, so it'll take me ten minutes to get to Bonnie's, and then another forty-five to get to the venue- Okay, awesome, we're totally gonna be on time-_ Marceline walked briskly down the street. Plenty of other students milled around, it was a warm night in mid October. She passed a small bar where people stood outside drinking and talking.

"I know a guy who's selling the answers for Dr. Lamb's midterm." A man in a red visor said to his friend.

"How much?"

"He just wants a case of beer and some molly."

"That's it? Damn. Can you give me his number?" The friend asked, pulling out his phone.

The rest of their conversation was lost as she got to her car. She unlocked it, pulled on her seatbelt and started driving. _I can't believe midterms are coming. I should probably actually try to study this time. I bet Bonnie would love that. What a nerd. Lame cute nerd._ She and Bonnie had been hanging out regularly, though, not doing anything quite as crazy as the first weekend they met. Usually, they hung around campus, doing homework under shady trees or getting coffee. Sometimes, Marceline could convince her to come to the Blues with her for drinks, other times Bonnie would talk her into seeing guest lecturers. Surprisingly, Marceline didn't hate it as much as she thought she would. Though, it may have had something to do with the girl she was accompanying.

Tonight's plans were all on Marceline. _She's totally going to love it. Eh. Or you know, she could hate everything about it. Maybe this was a bad idea. Shit. What if she hates it? Can I live with liking a girl who hates going to shows? Ugh. Why do I have to like such a square? A square who's never going to be with me- Aw shit. I gotta stop thinking about all this. I gotta stop being a creep and just be normal. A normal friend. Totally cool and normal and not crushing on anyone. Cool and normal and emotionally unavailable._ Before she knew it, she was outside of Bonnie's dorm. She parked the car and got out, pulling out her phone to call.

"Hey, I'm outside." Marceline said, walking up to the building.

"Alright, I'll be down in a minute."

"Is it gonna be an actual minute, because we're on a schedule, here." Marceline said.

"Relax. Bye." Bonnie said before hanging up.

Marceline stood, leaning next to the glass door that led to the lobby. Inside she could see students relaxing on couches and oversized bean bags, some scribbling away studiously. She watched them until a familiar shade of pink caught her eye. In jeans and a pink hoodie, she was surprised to see her looking so casual. Seconds later, Bonnie stood in front of her.

"Hey." She smiled. "Should I have worn less clothing?" She said, looking Marceline over. _Is she checking me out?_ Marceline tried not to emote. She pulled out her phone and checked the time.

"That was three minutes."

"You actually timed me?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah! This is some serious shit, Bon. You wouldn't be late to one of your lame science thingys." Marceline said, beginning to walk back to the car.

"I'm sorry!" Bonnie said. "I didn't know people even showed up on time to rock shows."

"Yeah man, you've gotta get a good spot to stand, get beer before everyone crowds the bar, maybe buy some merch, catch the openers-"

"We're standing?" Bonnie grimaced.

"I told you to wear sneakers." Marceline chuckled. "It's really not that bad, plus if you really want to tap out we can probably grab seats on the balcony."

"Is it going to be crowded?"

"Probably." Marceline said, stopping in front of the car. She clicked to unlock it. "Get in."

"You have a car?" Bonnie asked. "Since when?"

"Yeah, since forever. I never really need it around campus, plus parking is a usually a nightmare." She said while climbing into the driver's seat.

"So how far is this place?" Bonnie asked while buckling her seat belt.

"Not super far, but like, if you have to pee or anything you should probably do that now."

"I'm good." Bonnie laughed.

"Alright, then off we go." Marceline said. She turned on the car, reversing out on to the street and pulling off.

When they arrived at the venue, Bonnie wouldn't have thought it was small. It looked like an old warehouse from the outside, wide and short with light walls and water stains from broken pipes. Panes on some of the far off windows were shattered. There were only a few lights in the parking lot, and one big spotlight on a marquee that hung above an open garage door. She watched as a few people dressed in dark colors entered the building. "This is where we're going?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah, I figured you'd be bugged out." Marceline laughed. "I promise it looks nice on the inside. Come on." She turned off the car and got out, waiting as Bonnie followed, slowly.

"Are you sure we aren't going to get mugged?" Bonnie asked as they approached the door.

"I'm sure." Marceline said. "And man, you'd think you'd feel at least a little safe with me considering how many dudes I've beaten up for you-"

"Which I never asked you to do, for the record."

"Yeah, I know. I just like hitting people." She laughed. They made it to the entrance, where two men were standing behind some rope. Marceline fished in her pocket for her wallet, removing the tickets and handing them to one of the men. He inspected them, ripped them and returned the leftover halves.

"Enjoy the show." He said gruffly.

"Thanks." Marceline nodded. She walked up a few steps to the next man.

"ID?" He asked. Marceline handed over her driver's license, and the man stared at it, squinting to look back and forth between her and the picture. He must have decided it was real, because suddenly he handed it back to her. "Hold out your left arm." He said. She did as she was told and he strapped a neon green wristband on her. He turned his attention to Bonnie. "ID?"

"Oh, uh, I'm not twenty-one." She said nervously.

"Hold out your left hand." He said. Bonnie obeyed. The man pulled a marker from his pocket and drew a large x on the back of her hand. "You try and wash this off in the bathroom, you get kicked out." He said.

"Uh, okay. Thank you." She said. Marceline laughed.

"Come on Bon." She led her pink haired friend into the building. Bonnie realized Marceline was right, it was nicer on the inside. The entrance hall was narrower than she'd expected. Long planks of hardwood floor ran through the entire room, and there was something metal overhead, with stairs on both walls leading up to it. "The balcony is up there." Marceline said. "But I forgot you're not twenty-one, so they won't let you up there." Colored lights streamed in from the end of the hall, which opened to a clear wide floor where Bonnie could see the stage in the distance. They seemed to be the only lights in the room, aside from a few clamps reflecting behind the different booths and bars along the walls. Some were selling food and alcohol, others with shirts and hoodies pinned to the walls. "Okay, I'm gonna grab a beer, then we can check out the merch. Wait here."

Bonnie looked around, trying to take in all there was to see. Posters from previous shows hung in frames along the walls. She looked at the people who were gathered around the booths, most of whom were dressed in dark colors, wearing boots, skin covered in tattoos. Marceline returned with a clear plastic cup full of beer.

"Let's go check out some merch." Marceline said. They started walking over to one of the booths. There were all kinds of shirts, all bearing the same band name across them. "Which one do you like?" Marceline asked.

Bonnie examined them more closely. Most of the shirts were pretty similar looking, but one caught her attention. "The one with the snake is interesting." She said.

"With the water and the marshmallows on stakes?"

"Yeah. It's definitely different." Bonnie said. Marceline approached the counter and attracted the merch guy's attention.

"Can I get the black one in a medium?" Marceline asked the merch guy. He reached into a bin and retrieved a shirt for her.

"That'll be twenty-five." He said. Marceline fished the cash out of her wallet and handed it to him.

"Thanks." She said. She turned back to Bonnie.

"So, you've got your shirt, what now?" Bonnie asked.

"Actually, it's your shirt." Marceline said, holding it out to her.

"Mine? Oh Marceline," Bonnie blushed. "You really didn't have to. I don't even know this band."

"Well, it'll give you more of a reason to listen to them." Marceline smirked. "Plus I figured you could use the wardrobe update for the next show we go to."

"Whatever." Bonnie said, taking the shirt from her. "And thanks."

"Don't mention it."

"Should I put it on now?" Bonnie asked as they walked toward the stage.

"Nah, only nerds wear the show shirt at the show. I can hold on to it for you." Marceline said, taking it back from her. She threw it over her shoulder and led the way. Bonnie followed as she snaked her way through loosely grouped people on the floor, toward the stage. Eventually stopping a few feet short of where people were standing pressed against a black gate.

"What is that?" Bonnie asked, pointing to the gate.

"That's the barricade. It keeps people from climbing up on stage and shit, and security stands behind it and catches all the crowd surfers. But yeah, barricade is cool, it's as close as you can get to the bands."

"Oh. Don't you wanna be up there?"

"Nah, it's not always worth it. People press against you real hard and you're at the most risk for getting kicked by crowd surfers. Plus when the band throws picks and drumsticks into the crowd they always throw past you."

"Are you going to crowd surf?" Bonnie asked, concerned.

"Maybe." Marceline grinned. They stood quietly for a little while, listening to music being played over the PA and the sound of people talking. Marceline drank her beer quickly, wanting to be finished before the first band started playing.

"Hey Marceline." Bonnie called.

"What's up?"

"Why don't you have any tattoo's?" She asked, looking at the people around them. "Everyone else here seems to."

"What makes you think I don't?" Marceline smirked.

"I've never seen any on you." Bonnie said plainly.

"You also haven't seen me naked."

"Marceline!" Bonnie said, embarrassed.

"What, I'm serious?" Marceline laughed. "I only have a few, and they're all on my legs."

"Have I never seen your legs?"

"I guess not." Marceline said. She leaned closer to her ear and added quietly, "I can show them to you later if you want." Before Bonnie could respond, the lights went down. People all around her including Marceline started to cheer. "The first band is coming on now." She said. Bonnie started to cheer, too, because it seemed like proper etiquette. The band took the stage, yelling at everyone to get off their feet, but the crowd didn't seem so enthused. A few people bobbed along to the beat, and Bonnie could see someone at the barricade screaming along to all the lyrics. Marceline leaned close to try to talk to Bonnie above the music. "A lot of people show up late so they can skip the opening bands, but I like to watch them even if I've never heard of them. It's a good way to discover new music." Bonnie could feel the warm breath on her ear even after she had finished. They watched the rest of the set in relative silence, occasionally glancing at each other and smiling.

During the set change, the floor got a lot more crowded. Before, there was at least a foot of space between them and anyone around, now, they were nearly pressed against each other and everyone else, shoulders rubbing.

"Is it always like this?" Bonnie asked.

"No, it's usually way worse." Marceline laughed.

Soon enough, the lights went out again. Now knowing what this meant, Bonnie cheered with the rest of the crowd. It was like nothing she had ever heard before, so many voices joining together, until the band struck the first chord. Suddenly, the cheers turned to song as they all joined in with the singer to recite lyrics. Laser lights and colors pulsed all over the room. She looked over at Marceline who was staring up at the stage, singing along and jumping on the toes of the guy behind her. She had never seen her friend look quite as happy.

Marceline held Bonnie by the shoulder, guiding her body movements through a few songs. Bonnie laughed, but didn't resist. _God this is the fucking best. Man I love shows._

They were halfway into the set when Bonnie suddenly stopped moving. "Hey!" She yelled behind her.

"What happened?" Marceline asked, getting close enough so they could hear each other over the music. _Oh man, she hates it- She probably wants to leave-_

"Someone just shoved me!" Bonnie fumed.

Marceline couldn't help but let out a laugh. "Yeah, that happens at shows. It's all good as long as no one's trying to feel you up."

"I don't like that." Bonnie frowned.

"You get used to it." Marceline laughed. "Watch." She grabbed Bonnie by the shoulders and pushed her backwards into the people behind her.

"What the-" Bonnie yelled. She was surprised when instead of falling she was met with hands on her back, pushing her back in the direction she came, returning to her spot next to Marceline. "So is that what concerts are all about? Pushing each other?"

Marceline laughed. "No, Bon. They're about the music. Come here." She said, reaching for Bonnie's waist. She stood behind her, talking into her ear. "Look at the way they move." Marceline said, looking up at the stage. One guitarist bounced nonstop while the other stood banging his head with his guitar dropped low. The singer tossed his microphone around his neck with the cable. "Don't you feel that?" She asked.

Bonnie stood, examining the scene like it was a difficult equation. Slowly, she felt it. The sound was always there, but it was as if she was just now hearing it for the first time. The kick drum pounded with her heartbeat, she could feel the crack of the snare in her limbs. Marceline moved behind her, banging her head along to every crunching thud of the guitar. Bonnie moved too.

"Now you're getting it." Marceline said. She watched her friend from over her shoulder, making sure she was having the right reactions. Bonnie closed her eyes and leaned her head back a little, trying to take in more of the sound. _God she is so fucking beautiful._ She resisted the temptation to press her lips against Bonnie's neck, trying to ignore the way her friend's body felt moving against her. _Fuck fuck fuck why does she have to be so fucking hot- I really need to stop. Okay. Stop. Cut it out._ "Hey." She said.

"Hmm?" Bonnie hummed, looking up at her.

"Now that you're feeling the music, I think it's time to move on to the next best part of coming to shows." Marceline said into her ear.

"What's that?"

"Mosh pits." Marceline grinned.

"Oh no. I've heard of mosh pits, don't they involve people hitting each other?" Bonnie asked, voice full of concern.

"Not always. It's mostly just jumping and pushing."

"I don't know about this-" Bonnie started, in the same moment, the song's breakdown started and Marceline shoved her friend into some strangers, while simultaneously throwing herself backward. In another second they were next to each other again, Marceline repeated the process until the crowd split, clearing open a hole. A few others joined them, jumping and shoving each other, all with smiles on their faces. Marceline saw Bonnie across the pit, watching. Marceline ran over to her, still gripping the shirt she bought for her.

"Come on Bon, you've gotta feel it." Marceline shouted over the music. She demonstrated, throwing her own body around in time to the music. "Loosen up, no one here is gonna judge you!" She said. From what she could tell, something suddenly seemed to click in Bonnie's mind. Marceline watched as she started to move, eyes closed, in time. _I knew she would like it._ "Fuck yeah Bon!" Marceline shouted. "Now let's mosh!" She shoved her friend back into the pit, who this time, pushed back against the first person she collided with. _This is fucking amazing._ Marceline grinned to herself and joined her.

"You know, I have to say, I never really understood how people could get enjoyment out of hurting each other, but that was great." Bonnie said. The show had ended and the two of them were on their way back to the car.

"I know, man. Moshing is the shit." Marceline smiled. She held the shirt out to Bonnie. "Here." She said. "You can hold on to this now."

"Thanks." Bonnie smiled. "You know, I'm surprised you didn't hit anyone." She teased.

"I only hit people in mosh pits who deserve it." Marceline shrugged.

"So you're a mosh pit vigilante?" She mocked.

"Exactly." Marceline chuckled as she entered the car. She put on some music, low enough for them to be able to talk over, and started by toward the highway. "So, what'd you think?"

"It was fun." Bonnie said. "They had such a command over their instruments. It all was surprisingly intricate."

"Well good, I'm glad you enjoyed yourself." Marceline laughed. "Though I probably should've made you come to one of my shows first."

"Why?" Bonnie asked.

"Because mine aren't anywhere near as good." Marceline laughed again.

"Oh come on, I'm sure your band is good."

"I guess you'll find out soon enough." Marceline said. She stared out onto the vast highway. The roads were nearly empty, she had to pay attention so she didn't accidentally start speeding. The highway was inky black, lit only by her headlights and far off buildings from the side of the road. She relaxed in her seat, sitting comfortably. She glanced at Bonnie who was staring out of the window, up at the sky. "I like long drives." She said.

"Do you?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah. They're good for clearing your head. I write some of my best lyrics when I'm alone on the highway. Plus car rides make for the best conversations."

"Why is that?"

"Because there aren't really any distractions. No people, no tvs. It's easy just to talk."

"Okay."

"Okay what?"

"Let's have a good conversation." Bonnie said.

"You can't just say let's have a good conversation. It's gotta happen organically." Marceline laughed.

"Fine." Bonnie huffed. "Pretend I didn't say it."

"I mean, I can try, but like, that's kinda hard to forget, you know?"

"Whatever. Tell me something about you that I don't already know." Bonnie said.

"How am I supposed to know what you do and don't already know? I talk a whole lot." Marceline laughed.

"Just tell me things and I'll tell you whether or not I already know it."

"Fine. Uhhh-" Marceline trailed off. _What the fuck do I tell her? Dark secrets? Random information? That I like her?_ "Uhh, okay. I was originally not gonna go to college at all, but then my dad was trying to force me into the family business, so I figured college was my only way out."

"I already knew that."

"Shit. Okay, uh. Once I stole a stop sign on a dare." Marceline said.

"Knew that. It's hanging up in your hallway near the bathroom." Bonnie laughed a little. "I asked about it probably the first week we started hanging out."

"You're killing me, Bon. Okay, uh- Once I beat the shit out of a guy who tried to follow me home after a show."

"I know, that's why you guys bought the van. So you can all show up and leave together. You've told me about that before."

"God, I really do talk too much, huh?" Marceline said. "I can't believe we've been friends for a month and you already know everything about me."

"I'm sure there's plenty I don't know." Bonnie said. "Besides, I like listening to you talk." Marceline glanced over at her and noticed her smile.

 _Shit. Why does she have to be so goddamn cute? She was so much easier to deal with when she was mean. Ugh. She's fucking with me. She totally wants me to say it._ "Okay," Marceline said, taking a deep breath. "I've got something you don't know."

"What is it?" Bonnie asked.

"I like girls." Marceline said. _Oh my god oh my god oh my god I probably shouldn't've have said that-_

"I already knew that." Bonnie said. _What the fuck? How?!_ Marceline glanced at her to make sure she wasn't joking.

"What do you mean you already knew that?!" Marceline yelled.

"Duh, remember the first time I met Keila? She was banging on your door and then came in talking all about how you stole Finn's girlfriend and implying that we slept together?" She said. Marceline grimaced. _I'm going to fucking murder Keila next time I see her, I swear-_

"Okay, first of all I did not steal Finn's girlfriend. She was just a girl he had a crush on who happened to like me more. And second of all, what the hell! Why didn't you say anything?"

"What was I supposed to say?" Bonnie laughed. "I wasn't going to bring it up if you didn't want to talk about it."

"It's not that I didn't want to talk about it, it's just that, I don't know, I didn't want you to get all weird and assume that I was interested in you or anything-" _Shit. Why the fuck did I bring that up?_

"You're not, right?" Bonnie asked quietly. Marceline pretended to be very focused on the road, tightly gripping the steering wheel.

"No. Definitely not. Not even a little." She said quickly, hoping Bonnie couldn't see her blushing in the darkness. _Oh my god. Smooth. So fucking smooth. Now she probably hates you for being an asshole._

"Got it." Bonnie said. There was a tense silence for a minute or two as the music stopped. Marceline reached over to put on another song. "Hey." Bonnie said after a while.

"Hmm?" Marceline hummed, glancing over at her.

"We're good. Okay?" Bonnie smiled. Marceline relaxed her grip slightly. _I guess that's really what matters, right?_


	6. The Green Room

**Well hey there. I know, I know, it's been way too long since the last chapter. I ended up writing this one three separate times, sometimes they come easy, other times they need a little time and dedication (like ladies, am I right?) Anyway, this chapter is extra long, so be ready. Maybe get a snack before you start, and tell me how much you hate/love me in the reviews, okay?**

 **Also, quick question, I was thinking about updating this story to be in more of a paragraphed book format, but I was worried it might make it harder to read on phones and tablets and shit. What do you guys think?**

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Marceline was trying not to stare, but it was a hard fought battle. Every minute or so, she glanced over at the pink haired girl next to her. If there was a quiz in front of them, anyone would've swore she was trying to cheat with the way she tried to cover her face by resting her head on her hands. She couldn't help it though. She liked to watch Bonnie take notes, the way her furious scribbles managed to catch every word while still landing in pleasing curls, drastically nicer than Marceline's handwriting. She smirked at the sheer concentration over her friend. Bonnie looked over at her when Dr. Petrikov took a breath.

"Are you not taking notes?" Bonnie asked, quietly.

"Nah, yours are always better than mine anyway." Marceline whispered back.

"You're not going to be able to use me as a crutch forever." She said.

"Oh, I know." Marceline laughed quietly. "That's why I'm taking advantage now." Bonnie shook her head, smiling before turning back to her notes.

"You know, if you're not going to take your own notes, the least you can do is quit staring at me." Bonnie said without looking over at her. She bit back a smirk. Marceline felt her cheeks prickle.

"Psh, you wish I was staring." Marceline feigned confidence. "I'm just checking to make sure you're getting everything."

"If you're that worried, why don't you take your own notes?" Bonnie said smartly.

"Whatever." Marceline huffed. She tried to focus back on Dr. Petrikov, the way his round glasses gleamed in the fluorescent light, the words that came out of his mouth, but it all seemed like white noise. _Well, since I'm already caught-_ Marceline thought. She turned her head back toward Bonnie, who smiled a little, and continued watching her write away. To Marceline's surprise, almost nothing had changed about their friendship since her admission about liking girls. In fact, things had gotten better now that she wasn't afraid to tell stories about all of the hookups and mishaps with girls she'd previously omitted. From what she could tell, Bonnie seemed to believe her when she said that she wasn't interested in her. _Which is cool, because we can flirt and hug and hold hands without it being weird-_ Marceline thought. _But you know, also shitty, because now she thinks I'm not interested. Ugh. Bonnie is a lot more fun to flirt with now though. She doesn't get all prude and blushy right away. I guess that's because she thinks I don't mean it. Ughhhhh._

"Alright everyone, that's it for today. Please don't forget, next week is your midterm, so if you see anyone who's been skipping class, let them know. I'd hate for anyone to fail simply because they did not show up." Dr. Petrikov said, clapping his hands together for punctuation. A roar of conversation, rustling of papers, and zipping of zippers erupted. Marceline tossed her closed notebook into her backpack and followed Bonnie out of the building. There was a chill in the air despite it being deceptively sunny. October was coming to a close, making itself apparent in the color changing leaves and dropping temperatures. She looked over at Bonnie, who shivered.

"You want my jacket?" Marceline asked her, referring to the thin leather covering her.

"No, I'm fine." Bonnie said, crossing her arms. "I don't want you to be cold."

"Come on, Bon. I'm never cold. You know that." Marceline said. She stopped and set down her backpack so she could take the jacket off. She handed it to Bonnie who took it, reluctantly. "Don't be such a nerd." Marceline laughed. "Look, now you look totally tough." She said as Bonnie pulled the leather jacket on.

"Maybe that's what I should be for halloween." Bonnie said.

"What, tough?"

"No, goth." She laughed.

"Excuse you, Bon. I am not goth." Marceline huffed, flipping her hair dramatically.

"Oh, or I could be a vampire." Bonnie grinned.

"Ha ha. Very funny." Marceline said, unamused. "We do need to figure out our Halloween plans though."

"We have a whole week."

"Shit, it's only a week? We don't even have costumes yet!" Marceline said. "I've never been this unprepared for Halloween."

"You could always go as a bassist." Bonnie chuckled.

"Shit, speaking of, I don't think I can do our post-chem homework sesh today. I gotta meet up with Kei and run through a couple songs."

"That's okay." Bonnie said. "If you were paying attention at all instead of staring at me, you would know we didn't get assigned any homework today."

"Whatever, I wasn't staring, I was supervising." Marceline said.

"Uh huh. Sure you were." Bonnie laughed. They walked aimlessly across the quad, passing groups of seated students.

"So, are you super stoked for the show tonight?" Marceline asked her.

"I am." Bonnie smiled. "I can't believe it's taken so long for me to see your band play."

"Listen, don't go raising your expectations and shit, we're really not that good." Marceline laughed.

"You've played me a couple songs before. I liked them."

"I did? When?"

"Two weeks ago, maybe." Bonnie said, thinking.

"Was I drunk?" Marceline asked.

"Very drunk." She laughed.

"Aw come on, Bon. Why'd you let me embarrass myself?" Marceline laughed. "I'm always trying to show off when I'm drunk."

"It's was more of a serenade than showing off." Bonnie teased.

"Trust me, if it was a serenade it would've ended more memorably." Marceline said in a low, flirty voice.

"Really, how so?" Bonnie asked, amused.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe you would've grabbed the guitar from me and thrown it across the room in a desperate attempt to make out with me. Or maybe you would've just started stripping while I sang."

"Sounds like you've thought a lot about this." Bonnie smirked.

"Oh, no. It's just happened to me so many times that I picked the two most common ones." Marceline laughed. "No one can resist me with an acoustic guitar."

"Ah, but _I_ did."

"That's because I was showing off. Not serending."

"I don't know Marceline, that sounds a little too specific."

"It's totally not. I show off when I want people to think I'm good at playing instruments. I serenade when I'm trying to get laid." Marceline laughed. "See? It even rhymes! Wait-" She said. "Speaking of rhymes, did I bring my songbook with me?" She pulled the bag from off of her back and rummaged through it.

"Whatever." Bonnie laughed, too. "And anyway, if you _were_ going to serenade me, what makes you think that I would respond in such a common way?"

Marceline grinned. "Well we could always test it out, see what-" Distracted, she knocked directly into someone, dropping the few contents of her open backpack. "Shit, I'm sorry." Marceline said.

"No, it was totally my fault." The girl said, bending down to help pick up the books up. She looked at Marceline, examining. "Hey, uh, Abadeer, right?" The girl asked Marceline, pointing.

"Actually, people usually call me Marceline." She laughed, stuffing the notebook and pens back into her bag.

"Right." She shrugged. "Petrikov loves last names."

"I've definitely noticed." Marceline laughed. She took a moment to look at the girl in front of her, and was shocked. _Holy shit._ She was olive skinned, with vibrant red hair and light eyes, she looked as if she had just come from a tropical island, too warm and carefree to be bitten by the fall wind. _Who the fuck is this girl?_

"Yeah." The stranger chuckled, pushing some hair out of her face. "Uh, okay so, this is kind of weird but, are you in a band?"

"I am." Marceline said, sounding surprised. _How the fuck does this hot girl know my shitty band?_

"I _knew_ it. You guys played at convocation like two years ago, right?" The girl said excitedly.

"Yeah! Two kids passed out from heat exhaustion during our set, it was awesome." Marceline said, not at all bothered by the fact that the stranger had stepped closer.

"I _knew_ you looked familiar when I saw you in class! You guys were really good, I hated that I could never remember your band name, otherwise I totally would've been a groupie." The girl laughed. _Groupie, huh?_ Marceline thought.

"Are you in our Organic Chemistry class?" Bonnie asked, finally breaking into the conversation.

"Yeah," The stranger responded. She focused back on Marceline. "My name is Annie, by the way."

"Are you okay?" Marceline asked, smirking.

"What?" Annie laughed, confused. _Oh shit. Was that too corny? Did I just fuck everything up?_

"Annie are you okay-" Marceline cut herself short at the look on both girls faces. "Ah, sorry that was a lame joke. You probably get it all the time."

"No, it's totally cool." Annie laughed. "I don't know why I didn't get it right away."

"What was the joke?" Bonnie asked.

"Oh come on, Bon. _Smooth Criminal? Michael Jackson?_ We seriously need to educate you-"

"You guys are cute together." Annie cut in, quickly looking Bonnie up and down.

"What? No!" Marceline said quickly. _Shit, that was too quick._ "Uh. We're not-" She didn't look back over at Bonnie while trying not to blush. _Shit. This is awkward._ She grabbed the back of her neck, trying to look normal. "We're just friends. Bon's totally on the straight and narrow." _She did say we were cute together, though-_

"But you're not?" Annie asked. _Oh my god, is she hitting on me?_

"Nah, I'd like to think I'm pretty flexible." Marceline laughed a little, regaining her confidence.

"I can imagine that." Annie said in a low voice. _She is totally hitting on me. Shit. What do I do?_ Marceline took a step toward the stranger, interested. Bonnie coughed. "Let me give you my number. Maybe we can meet up sometime. Get to know each other." Annie said.

"Uh, yeah-" Marceline said, feeling around for her phone. She pulled it from her back pocket and handed it to her. "Here." She watched as Annie tapped on the screen, increasingly aware of Bonnie's watching eyes just behind her. Marceline could hear a phone vibrating. Annie took her own ringing phone out of her pocket.

"I called myself so I'll have your number too." Annie said. "Maybe you can play me a song sometime." She smirked. Marceline couldn't help but smirk back.

"Maybe if you're lucky." Marceline said, teasing.

"I guess we'll see." Annie said. "Later." She turned from them and continued on down the hall.

"Well shit." Marceline said. _I can't believe that just happened._

"Did she really go through all of that just to ask you out?" Bonnie asked.

"She did." Marceline asked. _Wow._

"That was bold of her." Bonnie said.

"It was. Definitely a baller move." Marceline smirked.

"She probably bumped into you on purpose." Bonnie said, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Yeah, probably. It was smooth though. Definitely smooth."

"You can do better." Bonnie said.

"I don't know, Bon. She was really hot, and I haven't been hit on by a girl in forever."

"She was rude, and if you wanted to talk to girls I'm sure you could." Bonnie said.

"How was she rude?" Marceline asked. "And I mean yeah, I could, but always having to be the one chasing girls is tiring."

"She hardly even acknowledged my existence!" Bonnie huffed.

"What, did you want her to hit on you too?" Marceline laughed.

"No, I'm just saying it was rude. Not to mention the fact that she thought we were together and she still tried to ask you out-"

"But we're not, so it was fine." She shrugged.

"I'm just saying, if we were, that would have been seriously messed up."

 _If we were?_ "I think I can handle a little bit of messed up." Marceline laughed.

"Well, are you going to go out with her?" Bonnie asked.

"I don't know, maybe. I'll probably internet stalk her first just to make sure she's not a complete nut or like a straight girl trying to lure me into a threesome with her boyfriend."

"Has that happened to you before?" Bonnie asked in disbelief.

"You would not believe how often."

* * *

"You guys seriously haven't hooked up yet?" Keila asked. "Shit, I thought you'd have that in like a week tops." They sat on the floor of Marceline's apartment, acoustic guitars in their laps.

"She's not gay." Marceline shrugged.

"Oh come on, everyone's a little gay. Even if it's just for one person." Keila said, wiggling her eyebrows.

"She's cool."Marceline sighed. "We're friends. I don't wanna fuck it up by being a creep."

"It's not creepy, she's pretty hot, you know for a total nerd."

"It's super creepy! And it's only gonna get worse the longer we're friends."

"So fuck her." Keila said, throwing her hands into the air. "Shit- I mean, well no, don't fuck her, literally. Just like, forget about her. We can go out and find you a real friend with benefits in like three seconds. Honestly I'm surprised you even like her. She's totally not your type."

"I don't have a type." Marceline defended.

"You so have a type. You like girls who edgy and look mean."

Marceline thought back through her romantic history. "Shit. Maybe you're right." She laughed. "Bonnie looks mean though."

"She kinda does. But like, in an I'm too good for you' type of way. Not in an 'I could crush your skull with my bare hands kinda way'." Keila laughed.

"Speaking of hot girls, one actually gave me her number today."

"Shit, people still give out their numbers in broad daylight? She's a rare breed. You should hit her up." Keila said, sounding impressed.

"Bonnie thought she was rude."

"No fucking way, girl gave you her number in front of her?" Keila laughed.

"Yeah." Marceline nodded.

"That's ballsy. How'd Bon take it?"

"What do you mean?" Marceline asked, confused.

"I mean, was she totally thrown into a jealous rage?" Keila said, as if it was completely obvious.

"No." Marceline said. _Wait a second-_ "Actually, now that I think about it, she was kinda being weird about it."

"Yeah?" She smiled.

"It was probably nothing though." Marceline said quietly.

"Oh come on, she's so into you." Keila threw her hands up in frustration.

"Who? Bonnie?"

"Duh! Why else would she put up with you?"

"You do." Marceline defended.

"Yeah, but I have to."

"Whatever." Marceline laughed. "She's straight."

"Has she ever said she was straight?" Keila asked.

"Well- no, I guess not that I remember-" Marceline said, thinking. "But she's never denied she was straight, either-"

"She's probably just waiting for the right moment to get you alone, maybe down a couple drinks and bam-"

"We've been alone plenty of times. And drank alone."

"What?!" Keila shouted. "And you seriously haven't made a move? You try and make out with everyone when you're drunk! You even tried to make out with me that one time!"

"Shut up!" Marceline laughed, reaching over the guitar to shove her. "It's different."

"Why? Cause you _likeeeeee_ her?" Keila teased.

"So what?!" Marceline said, blushing. She looked down at her hands. "I'm just trying to avoid a repeat of what happened with Sam."

"Fuck her, man. She was kind of a bitch anyway." Keila said.

"I know, but you remember how long it took me to get over her." She sighed.

"Yeah, I was practically hooking up with girls for you just so you could move on." Keila laughed.

"That's what happens when you assume a straight girl is starting to have feelings for you. You get in way too deep."

"Didn't you guys hook up though? You and Sam, I mean." Keila asked.

Marceline nodded. "We were kind of drunk, and she kissed me first. I don't know. What the fuck was I supposed to think, you know?"

"What happened?"

"Well, after she kissed me obviously I kissed her back, then you know, she took off her shirt and got on top of me, but then her boyfriend walked in and started freaking out-"

"To be fair, you probably shouldn't have been trying to get with a girl who had a boyfriend." Keila laughed.

"I wasn't like actively trying to be with her. I don't know. I just liked her. And then shit went real sideways." Marceline frowned.

"Well, you know, luckily, Bonnie doesn't boyfriend. Or girlfriend. Or any romantic attachments other than you. So like, worst comes to worst you'll just have to find a new lab partner or whatever."

"Yeah, but I don't want that either."

"Look, you're pretty much fucked either way." Keila sighed. "Why don't you just hang out with that girl you met earlier? Just to try someone else out. You could invite her to the show tonight!"

"Yeah. I guess I should. She did seem cool. Plus she totally remembered that time we played convocation." Marceline grinned.

"No way! She's a Scream Queens fan? You should've started with that!" Keila laughed.

"Sort of."

"That day was nuts. Didn't someone die of heat stroke?"

"No, but people did get rushed to the hospital."

"So fucking metal."

"We are pretty hardcore."

"Text her right now."

"Right now? I just met her a few hours ago. Isn't that weird?"

"Nah, she has to be real thirsty to have given you her number in broad daylight and in front of Bonnie. Just do it. Maybe you'll hook up and it'll be great and you'll forget all about Bonnie."

"Yeah, maybe." Marceline pulled out her phone and started to type out a message. _Are you busy tonight? Or were you hoping I never actually texted you?_ She clicked send and set the phone down next to her.

"Did you do it?" Keila asked.

"I did."

"Yes girl, live your life." Keila laughed. Marceline's phone vibrated. "Oh shit, is that her already? I told you she was thirsty!" Marceline read the message. _You got me. I always give out my number to hot girls and hope they forget about it. Whether or not I'm busy is up to you._ It said. She smirked. "What? What'd she say?" Keila asked. Marceline passed the phone to her friend. "Oh shit! You've gotta invite her. I gotta meet this rare breed of lady."

"I don't know if I should." Marceline said.

"Why not?"

"I don't know if I can handle being with a girl who's that much cooler than me." They both laughed.

"I guess now we know why you like Bonnie so much." Keila joked.

* * *

"I don't get to hang backstage?" Bonnie asked. Marceline had given her the tour of the venue, including a walk through the green room. She was impressed by how much Bonnie had remembered from the last show they went to together. She had even asked if the Scream Queens had any merch they were selling.

"Nope, you have to wait in the crowd like all of my other adoring fans." Marceline said. Bonnie frowned. "Come on, Bon. I want you to actually be able to see the show."

"Fine." Bonnie said, standing from the couch.

"Nice outfit, by the way." Marceline said, smirking at the way she looked in the leather jacket she'd borrowed and the band shirt Marceline had bought her.

"Yeah, well, someone I know told me I needed to update my concert wardrobe."

"All you need now are some ripped jeans and boots and you might actually look cool."

"Hey!" Bonnie whined. "Actually, can I leave the jacket back here with you? It's pretty warm in the bar and don't want to have to carry it all night."

"You want me to watch my own jacket for you?" Marceline laughed.

"You know what I mean." Bonnie said.

"Fine, but you're gonna be missing a crucial element to the outfit." She said. She took it from her friend and tossed it to the couch. "Come on. Finn and Jake should be here by now." Marceline said, leading her passed the green room doors and toward the bar. "There they are." She pointed at her friends across the room. Finn grinned as Jake passed him a beer. She saw Lady bend down to whisper something to him, he laughed. Finn noticed the girls approaching first.

"Marcy! Can you believe they didn't even card me at the door?" Finn said excitedly.

"Why don't you say it a little louder so the bouncers can hear you." Marceline laughed.

"Oh." Finn scrunched up his face. "Duh. Right." He looked down at the ground near Bonnie's shoes.

"Uh, hey Finn." Bonnie said, awkwardly.

"Hey." He responded, hardly looking up.

"Dude." Marceline said to him. "Stop being weird."

"Sorry." He blushed lightly, lifting his head up.

"Alright, I should get back-"

Marceline was cut off by a vaguely familiar voice. "There you are!" The voice said, a hand on Marceline's shoulder spun her around to the source. Annie. _Shit, I completely forgot I invited her. Be cool._ "You're a surprisingly hard girl to find. I wasn't expecting the headliner to be tucked off into a corner."

"Just trying to get my friends settled." Marceline said, cocking her head toward Finn and Bonnie who were both watching the interaction.

"Hey." Annie said to them, smiling and stepping around Marceline. Jake and Lady walked over, joining the group. She pointed at Bonnie. "We met earlier." She said.

"I'm surprised you remember." Bonnie said, adding an obviously inauthentic laugh.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Annie laughed. "Once I'm focused on something," she said, looking at Marceline "everything else just kinda becomes background noise." _Shit. This girl is even hotter than I thought she was. Or was that rude? Shit._ Bonnie shot daggers at her. Finn looked in awe. She shrugged and took a step closer to Marceline, closing off the conversation. "So," Annie said to Marceline. "I'm a little surprised. I thought it'd take way longer to get you to sing me a song." She smirked.

"You just have great timing, honestly. We haven't played a show on campus in a while."

"Were you banned after all of the heat strokes?" Annie laughed.

"Okay, that was not our fault." Marceline laughed. "The school should've provided more water. Or like, shade tents or something." Marceline glanced over at her friends, all still assembled around her, listening to her conversation. "Uh, I was actually just about to head backstage." She said to Annie.

"How'd you know I've always wanted to go backstage with a hot bassist?" Annie smirked, biting her lip.

"I feel like you tailored that fantasy. Nobody wants to go backstage with the bassist." Marceline laughed.

"I might've, a little."

"Hey Marce, we gotta-" Kiela called, cutting herself off as she approached the group. "Who's this?" She asked, smirking, once she noticed her company.

"I'm Annie." She said, smiling. "You're the guitarist, right?"

"You know it." Keila grinned.

"She's the girl I was telling you about earlier." Marceline said.

"Riiiight. Got it." Keila smirked. She glanced over at Bonnie, who was too busy glaring at Annie to notice.

"Oh, so you're already telling people about me?" Annie teased.

"We gotta get backstage. Tune up. Do shots. Pre-show rituals." Keila said.

"Well let's go, then." Annie said, grabbing Marceline by the hand.

"You sure you don't want your friend to be able to actually see the show?" Bonnie asked. Her tone was one Marceline hadn't heard since the first day they met.

"To be honest, I'm not here for the show." Annie laughed. "Come on." She said, pulling Marceline off toward the stage.

From the side of the stage looking out, Marceline could see her friends by the bar. Finn and Jake pounded beers down as Lady watched, laughing at them. A few feet away, she noticed Bonnie sitting alone at a table. _What a weirdo. Why isn't she hanging out with Lady?_ She watched her, until a man she had never seen before approached Bonnie's table with two drinks. _Is that the waiter? I didn't know they had waiters here- Wait, what the fuck?_ Marceline watched as the man set down the drinks and then joined her at the table. _Who the fuck even is that? Is she seriously turning my show into a fucking date?_ She fumed. "Wait here a minute, I need to go check on something." She said to Annie, disappearing before she even heard the response. She rushed down the long hall toward the green room exit.

"Yo Marce!" Keila called from behind her. "Where you going?"

Marceline stopped, facing her. "I've just gotta go check on something." She said.

"Something, or someone?" Keila asked, closing the distance between them.

"She's out there sitting at a table with some dude like she's on a fucking date!"

"So what?" Keila said. "You're the one who's actually on a date!"

"Whatever." Marceline said.

"Come on, dude. You have a hot girl back there who's practically taking her clothes off for you. Bon's prolly just trying to make you jealous."

"There's no way." Marceline said.

"Dude, did you see how mad she was when you said you were taking Annie backstage?"

"Yeah, but I'm just pretty sure it's because she doesn't like her."

"Do you really think if you brought a different girl back here it'd be different?"

"I don't know." Marceline shrugged.

"Come on, Marce. I know you're worried about getting fucked over again and all, but you can't ignore the signs."

"I just don't want to make any assumptions."

"Fine, I'm making them for you-"

"No Kei. It's fine. I'll figure it out."

"Well you better figure it out quick, because you know, Annie's hot and I haven't hooked up with a girl in a while." Keila laughed.

"I thought you did like last week?" Marceline asked.

"No, no, that was just a really pretty dude." Keila said. "He was a great time. I should text him." She said, pulling out her phone. Marceline laughed.

"Alright, come on." She said, heading back to the stage. She walked up next to Annie, trying not to look out to the crowd for Bonnie. "Hey, so there's probably at least another hour before our set if you want to go somewhere quieter." Marceline said. Annie smirked and nodded, taking Marceline by the hand again. She led her back to the couch in the green room.

"I was starting to think you weren't interested." Annie said.

"In you? Are you kidding?" Marceline laughed.

"No! I considered changing tactics and everything." Annie smirked.

"Tactics? What am I, a mission?" Marceline teased.

"Something like that. I was worried I was coming on a little strong."

"You might be. I guess I'm more used to being the forward one in these situations. Plus you are way too hot for me." She laughed.

"Me? Too hot for you? You're like this dark mysterious talented tough chick. You definitely tick all the boxes." Annie smirked. _Mysterious? Ha! Take that one, Bonnie! Shit. I shouldn't be thinking about Bonnie right now. Focus. Focus._

"Honesty, I thought you were going to be too cool for me." Marceline admitted.

"That _is_ what I was going for, so I'm glad I succeeded." Annie laughed. "Wanna hear a secret?" She asked.

"Shoot." Marceline said, adjusting her position on the couch.

"Okay, you have to promise you won't laugh though."

"Fine, I promise."

"Okay, so this is embarrassing, but I feel like I have to tell you before we go any farther." Annie laughed lightly, cheeks turning a light pink.

"You're not planning on luring me into a threesome with your boyfriend, are you?" Marceline asked, jokingly. "Because I didn't have time to Internet stalk you before this."

"That's just it!" Annie laughed aloud. Marceline frowned. "No! I mean, no! Not the threesome thing."

"Oh thank god." Marceline laughed.

"I've been internet stalking you for weeks." Annie said. "I know. It's super creepy." She hung her head in shame. "First, when I saw you in class and Petrikov said your name, I just wanted to see if you really were who I thought you were. But then I decided I wanted to talk to you, so went looking for your interests and to see if you were even gay, which luckily was easy enough to figure out. But then, I noticed you were always leaving class with the pink haired girl, so I had to stalk you to figure out whether or not you guys were together-"

"Seriously?" Marceline laughed. _I can't believe it. It was all so smooth. And I still get to be the cool one!_

"Seriously." Annie nodded.

"And here I thought you were so cool."

"Oh no, I'm definitely cool. I mean, I made it backstage, didn't I?" She laughed.

"You did. I'm just sorry it had to be with the bassist." Marceline laughed.

"Luckily you're also the singer and lyricist. That definitely makes it better."

"D'you learn that when you Internet stalked me?" Marceline teased.

"So what if I did?"

"Man, I don't even know what to talk about now that I know you know my entire life story."

"Trust me, you're way too cryptic on the Internet for me to know too much." Annie said. She ran a hand up Marceline's thigh. "But we don't need to talk if you don't want." She bit her own lip. _Shit. Do I want to do this? I do. She's really hot. Shit. Bonnie doesn't have to know, right? I mean, it's not like she's my girlfriend. Fuck it. She's not my girlfriend. She's not even into me. I've gotta move the fuck on._ Annie waited for a response. Sitting close, thighs together on the black leather couch, she stared up at Marceline expectantly.

Marceline didn't say anything, instead, she locked a hand into Annie's hair and guided their lips together. Without hesitation, she kissed back, wrapping one hand around the back of Marceline's neck, the other clinging to her thigh. _Shit._ Marceline thought. _It's been way too long._ Annie's breath was warm on her lips, with the lingering taste of a beer that Marceline didn't mind. _What does Bonnie taste like? Shit. Not about her. Stop. Focus._ She grabbed Annie by the waist, pulling her on to her lap.

Annie smirked. "And here I took you for a top."

"You're not wrong." Marceline said in a low voice. "This was just more convenient."

Annie kissed her hard, leaning down, pinning her against the leather. Marceline's hand met a lump as she tried to stabilize herself. It was her jacket. She managed to shove it to the floor without a single thought of the pink haired girl who had been borrowing it as Annie pushed her down lengthwise onto the couch. She kissed Marceline's neck, nipping at it. _Shit shit shit_ -

"Marce!" Keila interrupted. "Oh shit! Sorry!" She laughed. "Uh, it's time, dude. We gotta go on."

"Seriously?" Marceline groaned. "Now?"

"Well, you can always finish this up later." Keila sniggered.

"I'm sorry." Marceline said to Annie.

Annie laughed. "It's all good, life of a rockstar."

"Very funny." She stuck out her tongue.

"I'll just be waiting."

"Come watch the show. Hopefully I won't mess everything up and you'll still think I'm talented." Marceline laughed. Annie stood up from on top of her and waited, following behind her and Keila to the stage. They grabbed their respective instruments, followed by bandmates Bongo and Guy and took the stage to a surprisingly packed house.

"I guess everyone here must remember the convocation show." Keila joked as they took their positions on stage. The second the lights hit her though, Marceline was all business. She had transformed, pushing all complicated thoughts out of her mind. She was a different person on stage. Bigger, bolder, more certain.

"Ooo U!" Marceline screamed into the mic. The crowd erupted. "Let's fucking party!" The second the word ended Keila strummed a crunchy riff, launching the band into their first song, slick and well rehearsed. Against her better judgement, Marceline took the opportunity of the intro to scan the crowd for Bonnie. She found her, farther back than she had expected, smiling, which made her a little more confident, until she noticed the guy from earlier with his arm around her shoulders. _What the fuck, Bon?_ The first line of the song came out more angry than she had intended as she tried to pull her thoughts away from Bonnie and back to performing. _I don't care. I don't even care. Who cares? Definitely not me._ The actual twinge of anger she felt every time she looked out into the crowd lent to the typically angry nature of the songs. It came off as part of the act. To everyone out in the crowd, she was just as brooding and mysterious as ever. Every so often she would sneak a peek to her left, catching Annie grinning from the side of the stage. _I am on a date. I don't even care._

Before she knew it, she looked down to the handwritten setlist at her feet and realized they were on to their last song. "Well shit, I didn't even notice we blew through our set that fast." Marceline said into the mic. "Sadly, for me, you guys down there," she pointed to the crowd, "and these guys behind me," she pointed to Bongo "this is our last song." The crowd was a mix of claps and boo's. "Are you guys clapping to be respectful? Or because you thought we sucked and are stoked we're done?" She laughed. "Either way, it's your last chance to jump tonight, so make this one fucking count." She said, yelling the last few words. "This song is called Candy." The crowd cheered, Marceline knew they would as the guitar began. She sang, plucking the bass strings so hard her fingers stung. It didn't matter. These were the last few minutes she had left before returning to the real world, where she was less confident, less certain. She didn't look into the crowd, or the sides of the stage. Instead, she closed her eyes, moving to the thud of the drums. She could hear the music, but felt it more, barely noticing the way the lyrics tore out of her. It was a simple four minute escape. One she desperately needed. Guy struck a final chord and she felt it ring through her body, guiding her back to reality. "Thank you guys, goodnight." She yelled into the mic. She tossed the stand to the ground and walked offstage.

"We'll be at the merch table till they kick us out, so come hang with us!" Marceline heard Keila say into the mic behind her.

"That was even better than convocation." Annie said as Marceline approached. They headed off the stage and toward the green room.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"Definitely."

"I don't know, I think heat strokes are pretty hard to top."

"Well you topped it."

"I have heard I'm pretty good at that." Marceline smirked.

"Hm, I think I'll be the judge of that." Annie said. She held Marceline by the waist and kissed her. Marceline hardly hesitated before kissing her back, grabbing her tightly by the hair. "You certainly don't wait to get rough, huh?" Annie said.

"Is that a problem?" Marceline asked softly.

"Not at all." Annie said, nipping at her bottom lip. They kissed again. The door opened, and they could hear movement in the hall, but Marceline didn't care. _It's not like Keila hasn't already interrupted me once tonight._

"Hey, Marceline, you back here?" A voice called. It wasn't Keila. "Oh-" Bonnie said, cutting herself off as she entered the green room. "Uh- Sorry- Uh- About-" She shook her head. "I'll just-"

"No! Uh, it's cool." Marceline said, awkwardly separating herself from Annie's grip. "Everything okay?" She asked.

"Yeah. I uh, just wanted you to meet my old friend CB." Bonnie said, looking down.

"Who? You mean that guy you were with?" Marceline asked.

"He was one of the kids I tutored back in high school. Very sweet, but not very bright. He said he had learned a lot from me, and he got into school here, so I'm proud." Bonnie said, pretending to be very interested in the wall. "Also he's apparently a fan of yours, so it would be nice-"

"Yeah, uh, no problem." Marceline said. "Do you mind?" She asked Annie.

"No, not at all." Annie said. "I was actually thinking of heading out, anyway."

"You're leaving? Like, now?" Marceline asked. _Shit. She knows. She knows that I like Bonnie and now I'm never going to be able to move on-_

"Yeah, well, I figured I should let you get back to your friends, since I've been keeping you to myself all night." Annie smirked.

"You don't have to go." Marceline said.

"Nah, I will. It's not like I won't see you again soon." Annie said.

"That's a little presumptuous." Marceline laughed.

"Yeah, but I have a feeling you'll prove me right." Annie smirked. She grabbed Marceline, kissing her before straightening up. "Later." She said, starting for the exit. "Oh, and bye Bethenny." She said as she passed Bonnie and through the door.

"It's Bonnibel!" Bonnie yelled after her. She turned to Marceline, stepping towards her. "I don't like that girl." She huffed.

"I could tell." Marceline said.

"She's so rude! I can't believe you even invited her to come tonight." Bonnie huffed.

"She's hot, Bon. And she's actually pretty cool."

"Yeah, to you!" Bonnie said.

"Isn't that what's important?" Marceline laughed.

"Not if you're interested in keeping any of your friends." Bonnie said, crossing her arms.

"Christ Bon, I've been on one date with the girl and you're ready to sever ties?" Marceline asked. _What the fuck is even happening right now? Is this jealousy? Is she jealous? Should I kiss her? What the fuck?_

"That's not what I said! I'm just saying that all of us thought she was rude!"

"All of you? None of you have even had a conversation with her."

"Well, all of us except Finn."

"He liked her?" Marceline asked.

"He thought she was hot." Bonnie said. "I guess you both have the same taste in girls."

"We totally do." Marceline laughed. Bonnie eyed her, curiously. "Shit. Wait." Marceline said quickly. "Not like that. That's not what I meant." _Shit shit shit shit shit-_

"What's not what you meant?" Bonnie asked. She looked as if she were about to laugh.

"Are you fucking with me? Cause that's not cool, Bon." Marceline said, defensively.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Bonnie shrugged. "Come on, everyone wants to congratulate you for the great show."

"So you thought it was great?" Marceline smirked.

"I never said that." Bonnie teased.

"I swear to God, Bon. Keep messing with me-" Marceline laughed.

"Yeah, yeah." Bonnie said. "Where's your jacket? It's kind of cold now and it was all I brought with me."

"It's gotta be around here somewhere." Marceline said, looking at the area around her. Bonnie walked to where she was standing and helped look, eventually finding the jacket half shoved under the couch.

"You must have had a good time in here." Bonnie said, holding up the forgotten jacket as evidence. Her tone was not one Marceline could identify. _Is she mad at me?_

"Uh. Yeah. Something like that." Marceline said, holding the back of her own neck. Her cheeks prickled from embarrassment, though she wasn't sure why. Bonnie pulled the jacket on and grabbed Marceline by the hand.

"Come on. Everyone wants to see you." Bonnie said, slowly leading her back to meet the rest of their friends.


	7. The Dressing Room

**Hello again friends! I'm really happy that I managed to find time to get another chapter out so soon. Hopefully you guys will feel the same way. Also I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed/followed and favorited. It really got me motivated to get this chapter out. Let's keep it going!**

* * *

"I mean, I guess if we can't find anything we can just dress up as each other." Marceline said. She was lying on her bed, stretched across Bonnie's lap, who was busy writing quickly into a binder she had resting on Marceline's legs.

"Wasn't that my first idea?" Bonnie laughed, looking over at her.

"Was it?"

"Yeah, remember? I said I could be vampire-" She smirked, not looking up from her papers.

"Whatever!" Marceline laughed, shaking the binder off from her legs.

"Hey! I'm working here!" Bonnie said, catching it before it hit the floor.

"I know, it's seriously bringing down the mood." Marceline teased.

"You're the one who wanted to hang out even though I told you I had work to do."

"Woah, don't try to make it sound like I begged you to come over." Marceline laughed.

"You did."

"Whatever, okay? It's not my fault I underestimated how lonely it is to live on your own."

"That's definitely your fault." Bonnie laughed.

"Fine, fine. Keep acting like you hate spending time with me." Marceline said, adding a wistful sigh.

"You're so dramatic." Bonnie teased. "I just need to finish a few more sentences and then you can have all of my attention. Is that okay? Do you think you can survive for that long?"

"Hmm. I don't know. Probably not." Marceline shrugged. Bonnie smiled, turning back to her work. "Maybe we should just skip costume shopping all together. We can just go back to your dorm and I can pick out one of your lab coats and some sciencey goggles. You know, so I can dress up as a giant science nerd."

"Is that what you think? That I own an abundance of lab coats?" Bonnie laughed while writing.

"You don't?" Marceline asked, eyes widened in surprise. "Wow Bon, you just went down like eight hot points."

"What? Why?" Bonnie asked. Marceline laughed at her genuine concern.

"Uh hello, role playing ability. If you don't have lab coats how are you supposed to whip them out when the time is right to be a sexy scientist?"

"Is that a fantasy of yours?" Bonnie chuckled.

"Well if you're offering, it definitely could be." She smirked.

Bonnie set her pen down and closed her binder. "I never said that I didn't have a lab coat, by the way."

"Oh no?"

"No. Just that I don't have an _abundance_ of them."

"Ah." Marceline hummed. Bonnie watched her. "What?" Marceline asked. Bonnie looked at her friend, expectantly. "You want me to say your hot points are back up, don't you?" She smirked.

"Eight points is a huge amount."

"You don't even know what the scale is. It could be eight out of a thousand, that's basically nothing."

"Yes, but it could also be eight out of eight total."

"Do you really think I judge hotness entirely based on someone's potential role playing ability?"

"You could."

"I don't." Marceline laughed. "It's not even a real category."

"You have categories?"

"Oh hell yeah. Everyone does. It's just personal criteria."

"So then what are they?" Bonnie asked.

"What?"

"Your categories."

"You can't just ask me how I rate ladies. That's like walking into a restaurant and asking the chef for all of his recipes."

"Those two things are nothing alike."

"How would you know?"

"I don't, you'll just have to tell me." Bonnie said.

"Fine, but you can't accuse me of objectifying women, okay?"

" _Do_ you objectify women?" Bonnie teased.

"No! I just know that it's gonna sound bad."

"Oh come on, just tell me."

"Fine." Marceline huffed. "Well there are the general categories like looks and personality-"

"Boo." Bonnie heckled.

"It's just weird to talk about with you!" Marceline laughed.

"Why? This is what friends do, isn't it?" Bonnie said.

"Yeah, yeah. Fine. Okay, you really wanna know?"

"I really do."

"Okay, well, when I see a girl for the first time, I usually notice lips first. Those are important." Marceline said, quickly. "Then the eyes. Gotta be proportionate to the head. Then hair. I dig when chicks have cool hair." Marceline said, catching a flash of pink out of the corner of her eye. _Shit. Should I not have said that?_ "Uh yeah. Then face shape. Then coolness-"

"Coolness?" Bonnie laughed.

"Yeah, coolness." Marceline said, matter-of-factly. "Like what she's wearing, if she has any visible tattoos or piercings-"

"I take it I got a zero in that category." Bonnie laughed.

"You totally would've if you didn't have pink ass hair. It threw me off at first, I almost thought you were cool."

"You think my hair makes me look cool?"

"Well yeah, at first glance all abnormal hair colors look cool and like, edgy or whatever. You're like the only exception."

"Sorry." Bonnie shrugged.

"It's cool, I've already accepted you as you are."

"How gracious."

"You're just lucky you're cute enough for me to overlook that whole nerd thing." Marceline shrugged. _Was that weird? That was probably weird to say._

"Yeah, yeah." Bonnie said, smirking at her.

Marceline felt her phone vibrating somewhere near her, groping the areas to her sides until she found it. "Hello?" She answered.

"Yo Marce." Keila called from the other end of the phone.

"What's up?"

"I need a favor."

"What kind of favor?" She asked. Bonnie looked over at her, questioningly.

"Sexual favor, obviously." She laughed.

"Contrary to popular belief, my sexual favors are pretty exclusive." Marceline retorted. Bonnie looked even more curious about the other half of the conversation.

"Ha! You wish. For you they're more like party favors."

"Well that's not very nice." Marceline feigned offense.

"Whatever, you know I'm joking." Keila said. "Anyway, listen, I need a favor."

"I got that already." Marceline snickered.

"Shut up. Anyway, I have a date with this girl tonight and I don't want to go to any bars on campus because every time I do I run into someone I've hooked up with before-"

"Let me guess, you wanna get a ride with me to town?"

"Me and my date, yeah."

"That's fine, but I'm gonna have Bonnie with me, so you're gonna have to sit in the back."

"Oh shit, you sure you want me cockblocking you on your big night out?" Keila laughed.

"Shut up." Marceline groaned. "Be ready for eight." She said, hanging up before Keila could debate any further.

"Who was that?" Bonnie asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She teased.

"You did mention me, I think that means I deserve I know."

"Worried I invited Annie along?"

"You didn't, did you?" Bonnie asked.

"No, I'm not a complete idiot. You think I want a repeat of last weekend where you're all mad at me and then go running off with some random acquaintance-"

"Okay, I did not go running off-"

"Whatever."

"Whatever you!" Bonnie huffed. "So who were you talking to if it wasn't Annie?"

"Why?"

"I can't imagine you offering sexual favors to anyone else." Bonnie shrugged.

"Aw, Bon, are you jealous?" Marceline teased, leaning up to grab her arm.

"You wish."

"It was Keila. She wants a ride for and her date to town."

"Is that going to be weird?" Bonnie laughed.

"Knowing Keila, probably. As long as they don't start fucking in the backseat, I'm fine."

"Is that a possibility?"

"Absolutely." Marceline chuckled.

* * *

"Where is it that we're going, again?" Bonnie asked, looking out the car window. The four excited girls had been driving for a short while, Marceline and Keila generally dominating the conversation with back and forth banter and inside jokes, leaving Bonnie struggling to remain in the conversation and Keila's date almost completely forgotten.

"Kei, can you believe Bonnie's a junior and has never been to town?" Marceline teased.

"Yeah, I can." Keila laughed.

"Hey!" Bonnie shouted defensively.

"I haven't, either." Keila's date chimed in, almost nervously.

"What's so special about going to _town_ , anyway?" Bonnie asked.

"You mean aside from the fact that it's pretty much the only cool place anywhere near campus?" Marceline laughed.

"If it's so cool how come you've never taken before?" Bonnie questioned accusingly.

"Because it's full of great food and cool bars, and seeing as you can't drive, we'd never make it back home." Marceline smiled. "Luckily, tonight, Keila can drive all of us home."

"What? No way!" Keila said.

"Come on, I gotta show Bon a good time so it doesn't look like I've been talking this place up for nothing." Marceline said. Keila whined.

"We can have fun without drinking, it will be fine." Her date said quietly. Marceline was sure Keila was thinking of ways to get out of the date already.

The car was quiet for a while, ignored radio softly playing top 40's pop hits. The familiar streets stretched out before her, bustling with twenty-somethings traveling in all different directions. Every shop window was full of faces, some sitting and eating, others waiting in line. It wasn't as chilly as it had been the past few nights, and it seemed everyone noticed, taking the opportunity to shop and enjoy the town.

"Well, we're here." Marceline said, scanning the block for a parking spot. She pulled swiftly into a spot three burly dudes had vacated and threw the car into park. Marceline unclicked her seatbelt and turned toward the backseat to address Keila. "Okay, me and Bon are gonna go grab some drinks and then shop for our costumes. Don't go too far just incase I get into a bar fight again and need to make a quick getaway."

"Again?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah yeah, you did me a favor so now I'm your slave, whatever." Keila sighed. "Let's go." She said to her date. The girls got out of the car and immediately the couples went separate ways.

"My favorite bar is right up the block." Marceline said, grinning. _I missed this place. I can't believe it's been so long._

"I thought the Blues was your favorite bar?" Bonnie asked.

"It is. My favorite bar on campus. This is my favorite bar in town." She laughed.

Soon, they were in front of a small building, grey wood siding looking weathered. A wrought iron gate ran to the left of the heavy looking door, enclosing a lush garden that gave some privacy to large dark windows. Marceline held the door open for her friend, then followed her in. A hostess led them to a small square table by the window and gave them menus. There were a handful of other patrons, but the bar was nowhere near as crowded as some of the others they had passed.

"Most of the people around here don't know that this is a bar, so it stays pretty quiet." Marceline said, noticing Bonnie was looking around. "Oh, and their burgers and bloodys are killer. But bloodys are a morning drink, so I'll probably keep it simple."

When their waitress came by, Marceline had ordered for both of them, and Bonnie was shocked when she didn't get carded. The girls settled into easy conversation, drinking and snacking on a pile of French fries. Marceline had already finished two Jack and cokes, and Bonnie had surprisingly kept pace drinking vodka cranberries.

The waitress came by and refreshed their drinks.

"How you feelin'?" Marceline asked, taking another sip of her drink.

"Alcohol wise?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah."

"Good. Almost tipsy. These drinks are pretty strong." She said, making a face.

"Just another reason why this place is the best." Marceline laughed. She watched as Bonnie took a few large swallows of her drink, cringing after each. _Man, she's even cute when she's awkwardly slamming down drinks._ Marceline thought. She felt relaxed, staring out the window to the street through the front garden. Laughter rung through the bar from another group of patrons. On the street, a couple happily pushed a stroller. "Hey, uh, Bon." Marceline said, looking over at her.

"What?"

"Can I ask you something?"

Bonnie smirked. "You just did."

"Oh whatever." Marceline groaned.

"What?" Bonnie laughed. "You're the only one who gets to joke around?"

"Fine, fine." Marceline said. They sat in silence for a moment.

"So, are you going to ask me the question?"

"I already did." Marceline teased.

"Oh, whatever." Bonnie rolled her eyes as Marceline laughed.

"No, but seriously, it's kind of personal." She said, looking sincere.

"Okay." Bonnie said.

"Okay, so like, if it's too personal or whatever, you don't have to answer." Marceline said, gesturing with her hands. "But uh, yeah, so, I was wondering why you never talk about your family."

Bonnie frowned. "I don't really have any."

"What do you mean?"

"My butler took care of me my whole life, he's basically all the family I have."

"Wait, okay, I'm not trying to be an asshole, but you're telling me you're a rich orphan raised by your butler?" Marceline asked, incredulously. "You do know you just described Batman, right?"

"It's not like that." Bonnie laughed.

"So you're saying you don't relieve your aggression by dressing in black and punching bad guys?" Marceline said, glancing over at her. Bonnie gave her a look. "Sorry."

"It's okay. You're just not the first person who's tried to make that joke."

"You mean more than just me knows details about your life?" Marceline teased. "Damn. And here I was, feeling special."

"It's really just Lady. And of course people from my hometown."

"You're telling me a whole town knows more about you than I do?" Marceline laughed. "I really do talk too much."

"Stop. I told you, I like listening to you talk." Bonnie said. Marceline fought back a grin, turning to look out the window. "I have a question for you." Bonnie said.

"Shoot."

"Okay, um, obviously you've talked about Ash, but, I've been wondering, have you ever been with anyone else?"

"Are you asking me if I've had any girlfriends?" Marceline laughed, looking over at Bonnie who's eyes suddenly widened in embarrassment.

"No!" Bonnie said. "I just meant- you know-"

"Woah, breathe Bon." Marceline laughed. "You've really gotta learn how to be nonchalant."

"I know how to be nonchalant!" Bonnie said. "I just don't want you to think I'm being weird-"

"It's fine, I already know you're weird." Marceline flashed her friend a smirk. "Anyway, to answer your question, no, not really. I mean, obviously I've had hookups and like, flings and shit. But, I don't know. I guess I'm kind of weird about relationships ever since then."

"So what, you're saying that you intentionally cut things short?" Bonnie asked.

"For the most part. I mean, it's not like I'm saying I go running around breaking girls hearts and shit." Marceline laughed. "But I guess I do kind of avoid getting too serious." She said, twirling around the straw in her drink.

"That sounds healthy." Bonnie said sarcastically.

"You're not the first person to point that out." Marceline said, taking a sip.

"What if Annie wants to be your girlfriend?" Bonnie asked.

"We've been on two dates, Bon." Marceline laughed.

"Two? I thought it was only one." Bonnie asked.

"Ah, shit." Marceline said, guiltily.

"Were you not going to tell me?"

"Honestly, no." Marceline sighed.

"Why not?"

"After you pretty much flipped out at the show, I figured it was probably better not bring her up to you anymore."

"First of all, I did not flip." Bonnie said, practically wagging her finger. "Secondly, are you saying you've just secretly been dating her?" She asked. Her tone was even, but her nostrils flared.

"It was one date! It's not like I started an entire secret life!" Marceline defended. "I just didn't want you to get mad."

"When did you even have time to go on a date?" Bonnie asked, thinking. Before Marceline could answer, Bonnie gasped. "You went out with her instead of coming with me to see the research center's guest lecturer on Tuesday, didn't you?" She accused.

Marceline hung her head. "I knew you would be mad."

"You told me you had to help Guy prepare for his public speaking midterm!"

"Which I totally did!" Marceline said. "I just saw Annie afterward." She added quietly.

"What did you guys do?"

"What do you mean?"

"On your date."

"How are you gonna ask me about a date I went on while we're on a date?" Marceline laughed.

"This is not a date." Bonnie said.

"That's what they all say."

"Is it what Annie said?"

"Why won't you just let it go?" Marceline laughed.

"Because you lied to me! And you know I don't like that girl!" Bonnie said.

"I didn't lie! I just omitted some things. And it was because I know you don't like her. I just didn't want you to be mad at me!"

"Too late."

"Come on, Bon, seriously?"

"Yes seriously! I don't like being lied to. And clearly you have no regard for the fact that she's rude to me."

"You only met her once-"

"Twice. Almost as many times as you have."

"Why don't you just admit that it's because you're jealous?"

"Of what?" Bonnie laughed. "Annie?"

"Yeah of Annie."

"I'm not. Not at all." Bonnie said seriously, taking a long drink.

"Trying to get hammered?" Marceline asked.

"You're the one who insisted we not go costume shopping sober."

"A call I stand by." Marceline laughed.

"Then you should probably catch up." Bonnie said, setting her empty drink back down.

After a few more drinks, the girls stumbled off into the night forgetting entirely about their briefly tense dinner interaction. Marceline led the way through the busy streets, knowingly slipping off of the main road to quieter side streets. Bonnie was surprised by the residential area, a sleepy block dotted by trees and shutters so close to the excitement, yet completely separate.

"You really know your way around, huh?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah, I told you I used to come here a lot. Especially after my old roommate started stalking me. She couldn't drive, so I never had to worry about hiding from her here." Marceline laughed. "Here, we gotta turn." She said, taking Bonnie by the hand. She led her friend across a few short blocks, until stopping among a crowd once more.

"I guess we're not the only people who waited until the last minute to get costumes." Bonnie chuckled, peering through the shop window.

"Hopefully there are still costumes left. Come on." Marceline said, holding the door open.

The small pop-up shop was filled to the limit, tightly packed with college kids doing panicked shopping for tomorrow's parties. Thin aisles towered over them, costumes in plastic bags nearly running to the ceiling. Marceline smiled to herself. _Man, I love Halloween._ She plucked a princess costume from the shelf, picture on front showing a long pink dress with purple ruffles on the neck and sleeves. "Hey look." Marceline said, holding it out to Bonnie. "It's you. A little pink princess." She laughed, excessively, not sure why. _Am I drunk? Nah. Tipsy though. Definitely tipsy._

"Ha, ha." Bonnie laughed dryly.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you don't want to live out all your childhood fantasies."

"As a child I wanted to be a scientist." Bonnie laughed. "I'm already living that." Her face was pink, eyes glossy. If you couldn't see it on her face, you would've never known she had been drinking. _For such a nerd, she can really hold her alcohol._

"Oh my god, Bon. I just had the best idea." Marceline said, excitedly.

"What?"

"Why don't I pick out costumes for you, and you pick out costumes for me?"

"Why?" Bonnie asked suspiciously.

"Because it'll be fun, duh."

"If you say so." Bonnie laughed. "But I am not trying on that princess costume."

A little while later, they shuffled into a crowded dressing room, costume options in hand. They struggled to find somewhere to change.

"That one looks open." Bonnie said, pointing to an ajar door toward the end of the hall.

"Rad, you can go in first and I'll just wait. I'm sure you'll be done faster than anyone else in here." Marceline said, following Bonnie to the dressing room. Bonnie stopped suddenly in front of the door. "It's not trashed, is it?" Marceline asked, trying to peer around her.

"No, it's pretty spacious. We can probably share it." She said. _Wait, what? Shit, what?_

"Uh, you sure about that, Bon?" Marceline laughed, awkwardly.

"Yeah, it's no big deal." She said, leading the way. Marceline hesitated, but followed her in, dropping the armful of packaged costumes on a small bench. She stood up, almost knocking directly into her friend. The dressing room was not nearly as big as Bonnie had made it seem.

"I don't think this is gonna work." Marceline said, nearly stepping on Bonnie's toes.

"It's fine, Marceline. You would be waiting out there forever. There's room if you sit down." She said, gesturing to the bench. "I guess we'll just have to change one at a time." She closed the door behind them, clicking the lock. Marceline reached down and shoved clear space to sit, mumbling in agreement. Bonnie turned back toward her. "How many did you get for me?"

Marceline had never felt so uncomfortable alone with Bonnie. She looked over at the pile of costumes. "Five? I think…" _Stop it. Get it together. You're overthinking this. It's nothing. We're two friends sharing a dressing room in a crowded store. Stop. Relax._

"How many of them are glorified lingerie?" Bonnie asked, giving her a look.

"Maybe four." Marceline laughed, holding the back of her neck.

"Why am I not surprised?" Bonnie laughed.

"Oh come on, pretty much all costumes for adult ladies are lingerie, it's not like I intentionally picked them out." Marceline defended. Bonnie gave her a look. "Fine, maybe I did grab one or two just to mess with you." She laughed as Bonnie reached into the costume pile. "Obviously you don't have to try them on with me here." Marceline said.

"What, and fail this dare you obviously set up?" Bonnie asked.

"What dare, Bon?" Marceline laughed.

"You don't think I would do it."

"I never said that." Marceline shrugged.

"But you don't."

 _What the fuck is happening here?_ "You're right. I don't." Marceline said.

"So it _is_ a dare."

"Fine, if you want it to be a dare, it can be a dare." She shrugged, pushing back a little farther on the seat.

"I didn't say I wanted it to be a dare, I just said that you clearly were trying to dare me."

"Don't use me as an excuse to wear lingerie as a costume, Bon. Do what you want, your body your rules. Women's empowerment and shit." Marceline laughed.

"I'm not!"

"You so are."

"How are you going to try and pretend that this was my idea?" Bonnie asked.

"Now you're just stalling." Marceline said.

"You really don't think I'll do it?"

"Not with the way you keep stalling." She smirked. Bonnie stared at her, holding the bagged costume in one hand. She opened it, plucking a pleather corset from the plastic.

"What is this?" Bonnie asked, pulling the rest of the costume out to inspect.

"Sexy vampire, obviously." Marceline laughed. "Be thankful it's not a sexy plumber."

"Why would anyone make that?" She chuckled.

"There are all kinds of fetishes, Bon. Don't be a kinkshamer." Marceline teased.

"I'm not sure what that means." She said, setting the costume down.

"It means shaming people for their kinks, totally self-explanatory."

"Well I am still new to all of this." Bonnie laughed.

"To what? Kinks?" Marceline faked a gasp. "I would've never guessed." She teased. Bonnie shook her head at Marceline before she grabbed her own shirt by the hem and pulled it off. Marceline's face quickly flushed with embarrassment, not sure where in the enclosed space to look. "Geeze, Bon, you could give a girl some warning." She said, turning her head toward the wall.

"It's not a big deal." Bonnie said. "You don't have to stare at nothing the whole time." She laughed.

"Since when are you such an exibitionist?" Marceline laughed awkwardly without turning.

Bonnie reached to set down the corset, stretching out under the dim fluorescent lighting. Marceline could feel the warmth of Bonnie's skin radiating next to her. Against her better judgement, she glanced over at Bonnie without moving her head. _Shit shit fuck shit-_ Her face flushed, and she tried to rip her eyes back toward the wall to no avail. _Stop it stop it stop it-_ But it was no use. Through the force of sheer magnetism she clung, transfixed on a sight she had imagined many times. Every visible inch of her looked soft. Marceline tried her best to avoid staring at her chest. God _I am such a fucking perv-_ She thought, carefully examining the steep curves between bra cups. Bonnie stood up, unbuttoning her jeans in a plain white bra. _How the fuck does she make that look so good?_ Marceline fought the urge to grab her by her waist. _Fuck. Why the fuck does she have to be so goddamn hot?_ She didn't try and hide her staring anymore, it would've been impossible not to notice. She watched Bonnie's pale, pink-twinged skin tighten with the contracting of invisible muscles as she tucked her thumbs into the loose waistband of her pants. _Fuck fuck fuck fuck just fucking grab her just kiss her do something shit fuck-_ But instead, Marceline sat in place, paralyzed by conflicting thoughts. Bonnie smirked at her friend with an air of success. She gave the waistband a tug, leaning down low to peel off the rest of her jeans. Afraid her breathing would betray her, Marceline settled for not breathing at all. She examined the skin on Bonnie's back because it seemed like the least invasive place to look, little peaks of her spine visible, creating a miniature mountain range. She noticed a few strangely shaped brownish blotches near Bonnie's ribs. _Are those scars?_ She tried to ask about them, to say anything, but all of her energy was focused on fighting the urge to run her fingers over them.

In a second Bonnie was standing again. "Do you know how I'm supposed to put this on?" She asked, laughing a little.

"I think there's a zipper." Marceline choked out, staring hard at the floor. She peeked slowly over at Bonnie's newly exposed legs, thick thighs touching slightly despite them standing apart. _Fuck if I could just get them wrapped around my head- God she'd suffocate me with them- fuck-_

"Can you help me zip this up?" Bonnie asked.

"What?" Marceline asked, quickly snapping her head up, not to look guilty of her own imagination.

"The zipper is in the back." Bonnie said, making a gesture with her head because her hands were busy holding the garment. She turned her back towards Marceline who nearly choked upon notice of her new view. _Fuck she's going to fucking kill me holy shit since when does Bon have such a nice ass fuck shit-_ She struggled to pull her gaze away from the plain grey panties stretched to their limit and focus on what she was asked.

"Right." Marceline said, slowly getting to her feet. Bonnie was in front of the mirror, standing behind her, Marceline caught a glimpse of her own face. Surprisingly, she didn't look as obviously nervous as she felt. _Thank god._ She did her best to control her breathing as she took the ends of the corset from Bonnie, not wanting to press their bodies too closely together. Pink hair hung in front of the zipper. "Hold on." Marceline said, letting go of the garment to push Bonnie's hair out of the way. Her fingers lingered on Bonnie's neck for a second too long. But Marceline couldn't help it. She glanced into the mirror, Bonnie held the corset to her own chest, expression unreadable. Steadying shaking hands, she reached for the ends of the zipper, lightly grazing over the skin on Bonnie's ribs. She fumbled with the zipper for a moment before slowly pulling it up. "Aw shit-" Marceline cursed.

"What's wrong?" Bonnie asked, trying to turn her head to see.

"It's, uh, the uh corset is stuck on your bra." She said, backing the zipper down.

"Can you zipper over it?" Bonnie asked.

"I think you just need to take the bra off." Marceline said without thinking.

"I bet you'd love that." Bonnie said quietly.

Marceline nearly agreed before her brain clicked back on from autopilot. "Shut up." She said.

"I guess this is fine for now." Bonnie said, turning around to face her. She took a step back from Marceline. "So, how do I look?" She laughed.

Marceline took the opportunity to look her up and down, half zippered pleather corset hanging loose toward the top, pink hair spilling into the open space, thick thighs still bare, she almost looked like a different person. "Good. You should probably just do Halloween like that." Marceline said, more confidently than she felt.

"You should try one of your costumes on now." Bonnie said.

"You sure you don't want to finish?" Marceline laughed, grabbing the back of her neck.

"Not if you think I should go out like this." Bonnie said. "Come on. Try one of yours on." She insisted, picking up some bagged costumes from the bench.

"Fine, what'd you get me?" Marceline asked. Bonnie held them out, one at a time.

"Okay, sexy lab assistant-" Marceline said, reading off the first one. "Wow, I can't believe we went for the same joke." She laughed. "Sexy Batman-" she laughed aloud again. "And uh, what is that?" She asked, pointing to the last one. "A masked wrestler?"

"I figured we could get you a mask so you didn't have to spend your entire night bombarded by of your adoring fans." Bonnie teased.

"Wow, someone's jealous." Marceline laughed.

"I'm not. I just thought it would be funny."

"It is pretty funny."

"Try it on." Bonnie insisted.

"Right now?"

"Duh." She said as she tossed the other costumes to the bench.

"Are you just going to stand here?" Marceline asked, noting the limited space between them.

"Yes." Bonnie nodded.

"Why don't you sit down?" Marceline laughed.

"There's no room on the bench." She shrugged.

"There was enough room for me."

"Why are you stalling?" Bonnie teased.

"What? I'm not stalling anything." Marceline said.

"You are."

"I'm not!"

"Take off your shirt." Bonnie said, firmly.

 _What? Is this real? This isn't real. This can't be real-_ "What?" Marceline asked.

"So you can try on the costume." Bonnie said.

 _Oh. Duh. God I'm such an idiot. Always overthinking things- woah shit!_ Bonnie grabbed the hem of Marceline's shirt and pulled it up passed her belly button. "Bon- what the fuck?" She panicked.

"I'm helping you!" Bonnie said, continuing to lift the shirt up and over Marceline's head. Bonnie was too short to be able to take it off of her completely, so without much thought Marceline bent down to assist her, swinging her body a little to keep it from tangling in her wild long hair. She moved a little too quickly though, accidentally tripping Bonnie, sending them both crashing into the thin dressing room wall. Marceline's breathing became erratic, Bonnie was pressed against her, skin to skin, a hand on Marceline's chest. She looked down her her friend, trying to gauge if everything that was happening was some kind of joke. Bonnie looked up at her, lightly biting her lower lip. "Sorry." She said quietly.

"It's cool." Marceline breathed. She expected Bonnie to move by now, but she hadn't, still pressed against her, looking up. She could feel her own heart racing, paralyzed again. _Fuck, kiss her I have to kiss her she wants me to kiss her-_ She thought, feeling Bonnie's heart thump quickly, too. _Just fucking do it-_ Marceline leaned down a little, bringing a hand to Bonnie's cheek. She looked like she was going to say something, but decided against it, instead continuing to stare up at her friend. _Before you miss the moment-_ Marceline felt like it took hours for the commands to leave her brain and be executed by her body, but only seconds passed between the decision and the feeling of Bonnie's warm lips on her own.

Marceline wrapped a hand around her neck, holding them together. Bonnie's breath was warm and sweet, lips against her own soft like warm candy, a dizzying sugar rush. _I can't even- believe- Fuck I'm going to die here._ Marceline pulled away first, waiting millimeters from Bonnie's lips to give her a chance to respond. Waiting in silence, they stared at each other, breath still warming each other's lips. It felt like an hour had passed with no moves made or words spoken before Marceline's stomach dropped. _No, no no no no, shit! Oh no. Fuck! I misread the situation, didn't I? I fucking misread the situation and ruined everything-_

"I-I-Bon, I-" Marceline stuttered, taking a step back. "Shit, uh, wow, I really just made a mistake, huh?" She laughed, shakily. Bonnie watched her in silence. "Can we just- Let's just- uh- pretend that didn't- that I didn't just fuck everything up, okay?"

"Marceline." Bonnie blushed, suddenly unable to make eye contact.

"No, uh, you don't have to- like- say anything or anything- I- I'm really sorry." Marceline said quickly. She reached down to pick up her shirt from the floor and pulled it back on. "I'm just gonna go pay for this stuff and I'll meet you outside, okay?" She said, picking up the costume from the floor. _Shit, I have to call Keila. We have to go home. Shit._ She didn't wait for Bonnie to respond before slipping out of the dressing room. The line wrapped around an aisle, so rather than wait in it and run the risk of seeing Bonnie before she made her phone call, she ditched the costume and headed straight outside. She quickly pulled up Keila's contact and made the call, each passing ring setting her more on edge.

"What's the deal?" Keila asked suddenly from the other end.

"We need to go like now." Marceline said.

"We've been down here like two hours-"

"Dude, I'm serious, we've just gotta go. You have to drive. Meet me at the car asap."

"What happened?"

"Uh, I kinda just fucked everything up and we just really need to go-"

"Is Bon coming?"

"Uh, yeah. Shit. I shouldn't have drank tonight. Shit."

"Alright dude, try to relax. I'll be there in a few minutes." Keila said before hanging up. Marceline slid to the ground, resting her head in her hands.

 _Shit. I should've never stopped smoking, God I want a cigarette._ She thought, spotting a passing smoker. _Man, what did I do? I just had to go and kiss her and mess everything up- and what the fuck was that? If she didn't want to kiss me why the fuck did she take my shirt off like that? I guess she did have kind of a lot to drink tonight. She didn't seem drunk though. Shit. This is like Sam all over again. Keila was right, I should've just left it alone. Shit-_

"Hey." Bonnie said from nowhere, placing a hand on Marceline's shoulder. Marceline jumped, suddenly ripped away from her thoughts.

"You scared the shit out of me." She said, looking up at her friend.

"Sorry." Bonnie frowned. "The line was crazy and I was worried you were going to be sick or get lost, so I figured I'd skip it and just try and find you."

"Thanks. I'm fine though." Marceline said, turning her attention back to the ground.

"You sure?" Bonnie asked, full of concern.

"Yeah, but uh, Kie's date is going south quick, so she asked us to meet her back at the car." Marceline lied, picking herself up off the ground.

"Oh."

"Yeah, we should get going." Marceline said.

"We didn't even get costumes." Bonnie frowned.

"We'll figure something out." Marceline shrugged, avoiding Bonnie's eyes. "Come on." She said, leading them back toward the car. On the way, Marceline typed out a quick text to Keila that read, _cover for me,_ and braced herself for the undoubtedly uncomfortable trip home.


	8. Halloween

**Well, I guess it's pretty safe to say this is the longest chapter I've ever written. Not only for this story, but for anything. I went back and forth a lot with whether I should cut it in half or not, but in the end I decided just to leave it whole because I thought chopping it up ruined the flow. Anyway, settle in, get some snacks, and make sure you're comfortable because some serious shit is about to go down.**

 **Don't forget to review, and follow and favorite if you haven't already. It really helps me remember to take the time and work on these chapters. Thanks friends.**

* * *

It had been the longest drive of Marceline's life. She stared out the window of the backseat for what seemed like hours, every movement of the car nauseating as her anxious stomach threatened to make her sick. Keila kept things light, doing most of the talking as her date occasionally agreed. Marceline was so focused on making sure none of her limbs drifted toward Bonnie and stealing glances, that they had apparently dropped off Keila's date without her noticing. Keila pulled to a stop at the corner of Bonnie's dorm.

"Night, Bon." Keila smiled, leaning over the seat as Bonnie exited the car. "See you tomorrow, right?"

"Right." Bonnie smiled slightly and turned to Marceline. "I'll see you tomorrow." She said, giving her a look she didn't understand.

"Shit, uh, hold on. I'll walk you to the door." Marceline said, suddenly snapping out of her haze.

"You don't have to."

"It's polite." Marceline said. She slid down the seat and shut the car door behind her.

"Right, right. Dark, mysterious, and polite." Bonnie laughed.

"Oh whatever." Marceline laughed. Within seconds, they reached the entrance to Bonnie's dorm. The walk had gone more quickly than she'd anticipated and she felt unprepared. _Fuck, what do I do? Should I say something? Pretend it never happened? Kiss her? Shit shit shit-_

"So I guess we still need to figure out our costumes." Bonnie said, shrugging.

"Good thing we already had a plan b." Marceline said, not needing to think.

"That's true. And it's free."

"Free is always good." Marceline said. _Man I really gotta say something- Oh man. Shit._ There was an awkward silence as Marceline stared down at her feet.

"So, uh, I guess I'll see you in the morning?" Bonnie said.

"What?" Marceline asked before realizing she meant in class. "Oh, right. Uh, night, Bon."

"Night." She smiled before turning and walking into her building.

 _Shit. That was fucking awkward. Shit._ Marceline thought on her way back to the car. _Shit shit shit-_ She swung the car door open and dropped roughly into the passenger's seat. Keila stared at her expectantly. "What?" Marceline groaned.

"Are you going to tell me what the fuck happened back there? Or are you gonna make me guess?"

"I really should just let you guess." Marceline said. Keila put the car in drive and pulled off toward Marceline's apartment.

"Nope, you're gonna tell me, because my date was going surprisingly well and I totally bailed for you." She said, flicking the turn signal.

"You mean she managed to say more than two words?" Marceline laughed. Keila shot her an unamused glance. "Fine, but I need a drink first." Marceline sighed.

"Good, you owe me some booze anyway for making me be the designated driver all night." Keila laughed.

It wasn't long until they made it back to Marceline's apartment. They sat cross legged on the living room floor in relative silence, passing spiced rum back and forth. Marceline insisted that she wouldn't divulge any details of her night without at least regaining her buzz, so they drank directly from the heavy bottle.

"Are you drunk enough yet?" Kiela pressed, just as she had been doing for the last twenty minutes. "Come on, Marce. You're killing me, I gotta know."

"Fine." Marceline said, wiping her mouth from the swig of liquor. "I kissed her."

"No you didn't!" Keila yelled, eyes wide. "Fuck yeah!" She shouted, raising her hand for a high five.

"I'm pretty sure I fucked everything up." Marceline frowned. Keila slowly dropped her hand.

"Oh. Why? What happened?" She asked, concerned.

"Okay, so we were in the dressing room together at the costume shop-"

"You used the same dressing room? Awww shit-" Keila laughed. "How'd you convince her to go for that?"

"I didn't! That's the whole thing! She pretty much forced me into the dressing room with her, and then she put on this sexy vampire costume I picked out for her-"

"Okay, role play, I like where this is going-" Keila teased.

"And fuck she is really really sexy-" Marceline said, trying to ignore the warmth in her face as she recalled the memory.

"Okay, do I need to leave you alone or anything?" Keila teased.

"Shut up! I just- Anyway, the point is, she's hot okay?"

"I'm just saying, having blue balls is no fun, if you gotta go work some shit out-"

"Do you want to hear the story or not?" Marceline snapped.

"Geez, okay. I was just fucking with you." Keila said, raising her hands defensively.

"So Bonnie was changing, and I swear to god, dude, it was so deliberate, and then she stopped and made me zipper her up and then she decided that I needed to try on my costumes so she started taking my shirt off-"

"Woah."

"I know! And it got caught in my hair or something and so I tried to crouch down or whatever so she could reach and she tripped and then we fell against the wall and she was just standing there against me with no pants on in this half zipped corset and she didn't move and we were both just looking at each other and so I just fucking kissed her." Marceline said without taking a breath.

"So then what did she do?" Keila asked excitedly, leaning toward her with rapt attention.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Keila exclaimed.

"She just stared at me! And then I freaked out and started apologizing and pretty much ran out of there and that's when I called you."

"Dude."

"I know." Marceline groaned, head in her hands.

"How much did you guys drink?" Keila asked.

"I don't know. A decent amount. Enough to turn a nerd into an exhibitionist, I guess." Marceline said looking at the floor.

"Okay, well then you're totally in the clear, because that means it was also enough to accidentally kiss your friend."

Marceline groaned. "I didn't think I was drunk. Definitely tipsy. But not drunk enough to accidentally kiss someone."

"Okay, well, Bon doesn't know that, right?"

"No." Marceline said.

"Then you're golden!" Keila clapped her hands together.

"You don't get it, dude. Everything is gonna be all weird now." Marceline huffed.

"It doesn't have to be."

"This has happened to me before, Kei. And it sucks. And now I'm just gonna have to wait for her to decide she doesn't want to be friends with me anymore-"

"Stop." Keila said, passing her the bottle of rum. Marceline took another gulp, feeling her head getting heavy. _Well, thank god for alcohol._

"This sucks." Marceline said, setting the bottle down.

"Hey, it could totally be worse. At least she didn't diss you to your face." Keila laughed. "Plus, she might totally be into it still! Maybe she just thought that you were only kissing her because you were drunk and didn't wanna look dumb!"

"I know you're saying that to make me feel better and all-"

"Is it working?"

"Not really." Marceline frowned.

"Come on man, that could really be it. Maybe she's just confused. You know? Like, maybe she wants you and her drunk self knows she wants you, but her normal self is being a pussy about it." Keila shrugged.

"You didn't see her face."

"Fine, if it's such a lost cause, why don't you invite Annie over?"

"Now?" Marceline asked, confused.

"Yeah now! It's better than you sitting around and wallowing all night." Keila said. "Plus you can take care of those blue balls-"

"Shut up." Marceline groaned.

"I'm serious. If you really think things are that shitty, you might as well have some fun, right?"

"I guess." Marceline huffed. "But you're here."

"You say that like it'd be the first time you've gotten laid while I was in the other room." Keila laughed. "You know I don't give a shit."

"I don't know. I might need to be more drunk for this." Marceline half laughed.

"Fuck it, dude. It's Mischief night. Let's get into some mischief!"

"I can't get too wasted, I have a midterm in the morning." Marceline said.

"Sucks for you, I've got nothing tomorrow." Keila said. "Just gonna drink your booze, use your netflix, and sleep."

"Maybe I _should_ invite Annie over." Marceline said, thinking. _I might as well, right? It's not like Bonnie is ever going to happen. Especially not now. Ugh. I should just do it._

"Do it! Who gives a shit!" Keila yelled.

"I forgot rum makes you loud." Marceline laughed. "Or, you know, louder. Maybe we should switch liquors."

"No! I love rum!" Keila said, clinging to the bottle.

"Fine, but I have neighbors, okay?" Marceline said. "We gotta keep it down."

"Fineeee." Keila said. "Are you inviting Annie over or not?"

"This isn't some kind of threesome plot, is it?" Marceline asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Gross. You wish." Keila laughed. "But, you know, if you happen to be too sad about Bon to hook up with Annie yourself, I'm sure I can fill the need-"

"So you wanna hook up with the girl I'm hooking up with?" Marceline laughed.

"I mean, it's not like I'm trying to commit a robbery." Keila said defensively. "But you know, she is real hot-"

"Fine. I'll hit her up. But for me. Not you." Marceline said, pulling out her phone. "Should I call her? Or just text her?"

"Depends, how desperate are you?"

"You're the one who wants her to come over!" Marceline laughed.

"You don't?"

Marceline sighed. "I do."

"Well alright then." Keila said. "You can call her, but you gotta play it cool."

"Why do I get all of my advice from you?" Marceline asked.

"Who knows, I'm sure it's all bad." Keila laughed.

Marceline clicked the screen of her phone to call. Within two rings, Annie picked up. "Hey, uh, I know it's late and all, but did you wanna come by? Me and Keila are drinking rum and we could use someone to break up the inevitable fist fight." Marceline smirked into the phone. Keila laughed in the background.

"That sounds like a party." Annie said on the other end of the phone.

* * *

Marceline awoke to the sound of her alarm, muffled and far away. It felt like part of a dream, but she quickly snapped into reality as she felt something move against her. _The fuck?_ She opened her eyes, looking over at the source of the movement. A strip of light slipped from the edge of the curtains, illuminating Annie's red hair, which hid her face completely. _Shit. Should I wake her up? I guess I have to? Right? We have a midterm._ Marceline unsurely pulled her arm out from under Annie and shook her lightly.

"Uh, hey." Marceline said to her sleeping friend. "We should get going." Slowly, Annie stirred, rubbing her eyes.

"Morning." She said strangely.

"You okay?" Marceline asked.

"Yeah, uh. Sorry. I didn't mean to sleep over." Annie said quietly.

"It's cool. I'm not the type to kick you out anyway." Marceline chuckled.

"How sweet." Annie teased.

"We really should get up though." Marceline said, punctuated by her still ringing alarm. "Midterms."

"Shit, what time is it?" She asked, quickly sitting up. Marceline hesitated for a moment, distracted by Annie's body, now out from the blanket and stretching in no more than matching lace bra and panties. _Focus._

"I don't know, I think my phone is on the floor." Marceline laughed, quickly. She sat up too, reaching around on the floor for the source of the noise. She found the phone in the pocket of the jeans she had been wearing the night before, and silenced the alarm. "It's 9:43." Marceline said. "So, we pretty much have fifteen minutes to get to a class that's a ten minutes away."

"Fuck. I missed my marketing strategies midterm-" Annie said, pulling out her phone. "It was at nine."

"Who schedules a class at nine on a Friday?" Marceline laughed.

"An idiot." She huffed. "An idiot who definitely should not have taken so many shots of rum." They both laughed. "I gotta email my professor. See if she'll let me schedule a makeup test-"

"If we don't hurry up you'll have to schedule two." Marceline said, pulling on a pair of jeans and a sweater. Annie followed her lead and put on the clothes she came in the night before. Marceline grabbed her backpack and lead the way out of the apartment, careful not to step on Keila who was passed out on the living room floor.

They followed Marceline's usual shortcut and made it to class with two minutes to spare, joking along the way. As usual, the hall was packed. Marceline looked across the room toward her usual seat. Her stomach dropped at the sight of Bonnie, who was already seated pink hair lying neatly down her back. _Shit._ She thought, events of the previous night immediately shooting to the forefront of her mind. _Shit shit shit-_ Bonnie looked toward the door and scowled, noticing Marceline and Annie. Marceline avoided her gaze, glancing quickly to the ground.

"See you after this, I guess?" Annie asked.

"Yep. That is, if we survive." Marceline joked, half-heartedly. They parted, walking in opposite directions to their usual seats. Marceline slipped into the chair next to Bonnie. "Morning." She said, testing the waters.

"What's that all about?" Bonnie asked, sounding irritated.

"What's all what?" Marceline asked with a note of panic.

"You and Annie." Bonnie said, staring. Marceline felt her face heat up. _Why did I do this to myself?_

"That's uh, I just-"

"Good morning everyone!" Dr. Petrikov said loudly, bursting through the door with a large stack of papers. "Are we all ready to take our midterm?" He asked. There was a murmur of yeses, some no's, and others just groaned. "Well, I certainly hope you'll be ready by the time your quiz is in hand. Here." He said, gesturing to piles of papers on his desk. "Please calmly take one, and as you finish, drop the quiz in this basket and you can be on your way." He clapped. "Oh, and happy halloween!" He laughed, taking a seat in the corner of the room. Reluctantly, students began to get to their feet and retrieve a quiz. Bonnie was the first to stand, and she brought an extra test back for Marceline.

"You're the best." Marceline said. Bonnie didn't so much as smile in response, she immediately began working on her quiz. Marceline looked down at the paper in front of her and surprisingly, the questions didn't seem as foreign as she had expected, and it was multiple choice. _Oh shit, I actually know this! I told Bonnie this class was gonna be an easy A._ She thought, scribbling down a circle around the correct option. After a few minutes, she saw Bonnie stand up out of the corner of her eye. _Shit, she's already done?_ Just as quickly as she had stood up, she returned to her seat, paperless. _Is she waiting for me?_ She looked over at her, but Bonnie's gaze was fixed on the door. Marceline shifted uncomfortably, now feeling pressured to move through the test faster. _Uh, shit, okay, I know this-_ Marceline rushed her way through the remainder of the test, only slowing down to fully read a handful questions that were worth more points than others. She stood up and walked over to Dr. Petrikov's desk triumphantly after circling the final answer and dropped her test in the bin. Without a word, Bonnie was behind her, and Marceline felt a twinge of panic. _Shit she's being super weird. Fuck-_ Marceline didn't question it though, and they walked out of the hall in silence.

Crunchy orange leaves were shrewn across the paved walkways as more and more trees started to shed. The sun was deceptively warm on Marceline's pale skin, as a cold breeze raised goosebumps up her arms. Bonnie still had not said a word, but Marceline noticed her shiver.

"I don't know why you're always wearing those thin sweaters, it's like you want me to give you my jacket." Marceline laughed.

"I'm fine." Bonnie shook her head without smiling. Marceline's stomach dropped. _Shit._ "You never told me what that was about." She said.

"What what was about?" Marceline's voice shook, but it didn't seem like Bonnie noticed.

"You and Annie."

"Right. It was nothing, seriously, I just saw her on the way in." She lied.

"Right." Bonnie said, lips pursed. _That wasn't so bad. Was it?_

"So uh, what time should I come by so I can put my sciency costume together?" Marceline asked.

"Actually, uh, I don't think I can come tonight." Bonnie said quietly.

"What? Why?" Marceline asked. _Fuck. This is it. She's already over it. Fuck-_

"I don't feel so good. I think I'm getting sick." Bonnie said, looking at the ground.

"Seriously?" Marceline asked.

"Yeah." Bonnie said.

"It's probably because you never wear a jacket." Marceline teased. The words felt shaky and wrong coming out. _This is probably the last time I'm ever even gonna see her, first it's cancelling plans, then ignoring my texts and calls- Shit shit shit-_

"Yeah, probably." Bonnie half smiled. "Alright, I'm going to head home."

"Okay. Uh, I'll text you." Marceline said, holding the back of her neck.

"Okay." Bonnie said. She turned from Marceline and began her walk back home. Marceline did the same, trying hard to ignore the stinging in her eyes.

She opened the door to her apartment to find Keila still lying on the living room floor, though now her eyes were open and the tv was on.

"Hey." Marceline said.

"Hey, how was your test?" Keila asked, looking up at her.

"It actually went pretty well. I definitely passed."

"Fuck yeah." Keila said. "And what happened with Annie?"

"What do you think happened?" Marceline laughed.

"No, I mean like, obviously I know you guys fucked, I could hear it." Keila laughed. "But like, how was it? I need deets."

"No."

"Oh come on." Keila groaned. "What's the point if I can't live vicariously through you?"

"Why don't you just call that girl from last night? That date was going well, right?"

"I was actually thinking about it already. I might hang out with her instead of going to that halloween party."

"What? Dude no! First Bon bails, now you?"

"Bonnie bailed on the party?" Keila asked.

Marceline sighed. "Now do you believe me?"

"I'm sorry dude." Keila frowned. "But hey, fuck her! Now you can bring Annie without it being a problem. Plus Finn and Jake are still going, right?"

"Yeah. Me and Bonnie were supposed to meet them there." Marceline sighed again, dropping herself down on the floor next to Keila.

"Come on, man. It's not all bad. I know you liked her, but at least you have someone else to spend time with, right?" Keila said.

"Yeah, that's true." Marceline groaned. _I probably shouldn't even go. This sucks. Ugh. But I guess Kie is right. It's not like Annie is a bad alternative-_ "I do like Annie. She's cool."

"And extremely hot." Keila said, closing her eyes.

"She really is." Marceline laughed. "But I don't know. She's just-" Marceline drew a deep breath. "She's just not Bonnie, you know?"

"I get it, I do." Keila said. "But, maybe now you won't have to compare her to Bonnie, you know? They're not even in competition with each other."

"Yeah." Marceline sighed.

"I just don't want you to start getting all depressed about her, you know? If you like Annie, you might as well give it a shot while she's still around." Keila shrugged. _She's right. Shit. I can't just wallow like last time. I don't want that again._

"Do you think it'll be weird?" Marceline asked.

"When has anything ever been weird when there's booze involved?" Keila laughed. "Just invite her. Hook up. Get trashed. Live your life. If you end up stranded somewhere all fucked up, just call me and I'll pick you up."

"Could you imagine me ruining your date with the same girl two nights in a row?" Marceline laughed.

"I can, actually."

"I'll try not to." Marceline swore. She pulled out her phone and quickly typed a text message to Annie, _wanna come to a party tonight?_

* * *

It was dark outside, orange streetlights overhead casting a spooky glow up the block. A breeze sent goosebumps running up Marceline's arm, and for a fleeting moment she was thankful she didn't buy a real costume with Bonnie, now her leather jacket kept her warm. It was surprisingly quiet for Halloween night in a college town. _I guess everyone is already partying? Or maybe everyone just decided to stay home._ She had been drinking, so the relatively long walk alone wasn't so bad. She had insisted that Annie meet her near the party, wanting some alone time after Keila left. _Man I hope this party doesn't suck._ Another person was in sight a half a block up, red hair glimmering in the streetlight. _At least Annie didn't bail on me._ Marceline thought, instantly recognizing her. She crossed the street to where Annie was waiting, looking down at her phone. She looked up when she noticed Marceline approaching.

"What are you supposed to be?" Annie teased, looking Marceline up and down. She flashed her teeth in response, bearing plastic fangs stuck to her canines.

"Vampire." Marceline said, hissing at her.

"Boo, that's such a cop out."

"I didn't have any prep time." Marceline laughed. "I used to wear these on stage."

"Very goth of you."

"Whatever. What are you, anyway?" She asked, looking Annie up and down.

"Guess." Annie uncrossed her arms and posed for the best possible viewing angle. Her cheeks had painted red circles on them, apparently indication a permanent blush. She was wearing a tight dark blue dress, partially hidden under a white ruffled apron that wrapped around her waist. It stopped down at the top of her thighs, a few inches were left exposed and striped white and knee-highs covered the rest of her legs. Marceline reached for the gap instinctively, trailing her fingers lightly along the hem of her dress.

"I have no idea." Marceline said quietly.

"Oh come on, I'm raggedy Ann. Duh, me explaining totally ruins the joke." Annie huffed.

"I don't remember Raggedy Ann wearing this tight of a dress."

"Well I did take some liberties, it's halloween after all." Annie smirked.

"We should get going. Finn texted me like a hundred times already." Marceline said, hands still lingering near Annie's thighs.

"That's the little one, right?" Annie asked.

"Yeah, but don't say that to his face. He's super touchy about being young." Marceline laughed. "Come on." She grabbed Annie's hand and led her down the block, they could hear music growing louder, echoing through the quiet night. Soon, it reverberated through walls and sidewalks. They turned a corner to a sea a people flooding a small block. Cars were parked in the opening of the street as a makeshift barricade. There were folding tables set up with drinks, kegs sat untapped in the middle of the street as others crowded around a guy holding out bottles of clear liquor.

"I thought we were just going to some house party?" Annie asked, amused.

"We are." Marceline laughed, continuing to lead her toward the crowd. "You ever meet Party Pat?" She asked Annie, now having to yell over the music.

"No, I've heard of him though."

"This is his place." Marceline said. She pulled open the door of a red brick building on the corner of the block and grinned. Somehow, inside was even more packed than the street, laser lights flashing through fog effects. The music was so loud that Marceline could feel it shake her chest. _This is exactly what I needed._ Without letting go of Annie's hand, she led her to a makeshift bar that looked to be set up on a kitchen island. "Can we get some shots of vodka?" Marceline asked the presumed bartender. He nodded and handed them both plastic cups, haphazardly sloshing alcohol into each of them. Marceline laughed looking down into her cup, he had filled it almost halfway. _Well, I guess I can't complain._ She looked at Annie, holding out her cup. "Cheers." She smirked.

"Here goes nothing." Annie laughed, clicking together her cup with Marceline's. They both chugged the liquid, not stopping until they were empty. Marceline dropped the empty cup back to the bar.

"Shit." She laughed, wiping her mouth. "Can we get one more?" She asked the bartender.

"I'm good." Annie said, still grimacing from the last of her liquor. "Vodka is just not my thing."

"Vodka is a gift to humanity." Marceline said, picking up her refilled cup. She chugged again, but it felt like there was more in the cup this time. She choked and the vodka went down the wrong pipe, burning through her nose. She coughed hard.

"A gift, huh?" Annie teased.

"Shut up." Marceline said feebly.

"How about we just go get some jungle juice?" Annie laughed, leading Marceline to a table where a large clear plastic bin was filled with a greenish punch. Annie filled her cup and took a sip. "This is actually really good. This is going to be dangerous." She smiled. "Here." She beckoned for Marceline's cup and filled it for her. Marceline took a sip of the punch and was shocked, it tasted like oranges and pineapples, not alcohol. _This is definitely going to be dangerous._

Suddenly, Marceline felt someone slam into her, but before she could throw them off of her, she caught a flash of a blue shirt and a white hat. "Finn, what the hell, dude?" Marceline asked, flicking spilled droplets of jungle juice from her arm.

"Sorry! I just missed you! Isn't this party rad?" He yelled, though Marceline could already hear him fine over the music.

"Yeah, it seems pretty cool so far."

"Do you need a drink? Jake has so many drinks!" Finn asked beaming.

"I already have one." Marceline laughed, showing him the cup her nearly knocked from her hand. "Are you drunk?"

"I don't know. No." Finn said. "No, wait, yeah." He laughed. Annie stepped around to join the conversation.

"Hey Finn, you remember my friend Annie, right?" Marceline asked.

"Heck yeah, she's such a babe!" Finn yelled. Annie and Marceline both laughed.

"She's standing right next to me." Marceline said, trying to hold back her laughter. Finn's eyes widened as he noticed Annie for the first time. He took a step toward her, almost cutting Marceline out of the conversation.

"You have a really rad looking face." He said to Annie very seriously.

"Thank you." Annie laughed. Finn reached up and cupped her cheek.

"Okay, you're flagged, no more drinking for you." Marceline laughed, stepping in between Finn and Annie.

"What? No!" Finn whined.

"How about you drink some water and I'll reconsider."

"I'm on it!" He said, rushing off in search of a bottle of water.

"Sorry about that." Marceline said, turning to Annie.

"It's cool. How can I possibly be mad about such a great compliment?" She laughed.

"Well, you do have a rad looking face." Marceline said.

"Eh, it was cuter when he said it."

"Whatever." Marceline laughed. She took a sip of her drink.

"Finish that and come dance with me." Annie smiled.

"You already finished yours?" Marceline asked.

"Hell yeah, I came here to party." Annie laughed. Marceline tipped her drink back, finishing it without coming up for air.

"Let's go." She said, wiping excess juice from her top lip. Annie took her by the hand and led her through the crowd to an area in front of some large speakers where people had decided to dance. Lights pulsed as they danced, face to face, thighs between thighs, moving in time to electronic music. Marceline didn't know how much time had passed, but she could feel the alcohol creeping in, weighing heavy on her head. She felt lighter though, finally able to relax. One song faded into the next and she was lost, miles away from school and midterms and Bonnie, only aware of Annie and the way the her thighs felt on her fingertips. She grinned at Annie, who wrapped her hands around Marceline's neck and pulled her in for a kiss. Marceline grabbed at her from her thighs, pulling her closer, digging into her skin. Annie responded by giving Marceline's hair a rough tug.

"Fuck." Annie breathed into her ear as they broke apart.

"I'm really glad you came." Marceline said, speaking into her ear so she'd hear above the music.

"I am too." Annie smiled. "Come on, let's go get another drink." She pulled Marceline buy the hand across the seemingly endless room. They stopped without Marceline realizing, and she bumped into Annie.

"Sorry." Marceline laughed. It was quieter where they were standing, but not by much."

"Let's do body shots!" Annie yelled, pointing to a pool table where a girl was lying flat as a guy in a hat poured liquor into her belly button. Before Marceline could respond, she was already in route. Annie stopped at the pool table, boosting herself up into a seated position. "Hey, can we get some over here?" She called to the man.

"Do you want to take it off of me?" Marceline asked. "You're in a dress."

"Who cares?" Annie laughed, lying back on the table. She reached to the hem of her dress and pulled it up passed her stomach, revealing white lace panties. _Shit._ Marceline thought, looking her up and down. The guy in the hat stopped in front of Annie and gently poured some liquor into her belly button. She laughed, and it started to spill out. "Quick, go!" Annie yelled. Marceline stooped down and sucked up alcohol, catching the spills with her tongue. She climbed on top of the pool table, straddling Annie for a better reach. She couldn't help but touch Annie's thighs as she trailed her tongue upward. _Fuck. How is she so sexy?_ Marceline felt a hand in her hair. She was pulled upward to meet Annie's lips. They kissed aggressively as Marceline continued running her hands up Annie's exposed thighs. She could hear cheers and shouts, but they all sounded far away, completely lost on her. She felt something on her arm, a hand, it took her a few seconds to realize it wasn't Annie's.

"The fuck?" She tried to shake the hand off of her, but in the process, accidentally shook herself off of the table. Before she hit the ground, someone caught her. They both stumbled to their feet. Marceline tried to regain her sense, dizzy from the fall, but before she could, the hand was on her again, dragging her away from the pool table and the rest of the party. She was pulled into a brightly lit bedroom, and heard the door slam. She looked up, and saw nothing but pink. _Bonnie? What the fuck?_

"What is your problem?" Bonnie growled, slamming the door behind her.

"My problem? You practically pulled my arm out of my socket!" Marceline said, angrily. The bright lights and adrenaline in the unfamiliar room had her suddenly feeling a bit more sober. _Fuck this sucks. Of course she would ruin this for me-_

"Yes, your problem!" Bonnie huffed. "I walk in looking for you so we could talk, and instead I find you on top of that girl in the middle of a pool table!"

"And?" Marceline laughed, although she didn't mean to.

"And last night you told me you weren't even planning on getting serious with her!"

"It's not serious! You think I can't make out with someone at a party without wanting to marry them?" Marceline laughed.

"Making out? You were practically swallowing each other! She was half naked in the middle of a party, Marceline! Why did you even bring her?" Bonnie asked aggressively.

"You said you didn't want to come!" She defended.

"So that automatically means you should invite _her_?"

"Well, yeah, why wouldn't I?" Marceline asked.

"Because you know I don't like her!" Bonnie yelled.

"You weren't coming! Why does it matter whether or not if you don't like her if you weren't supposed to be here?" Marceline yelled back.

"It's the principle of the thing!"

"Principle of the thing? Seriously? So I'm just not supposed to have fun if you're not around?" Marceline said.

"That's not what I said!" Bonnie huffed.

"That's what it sounded like."

"God you are unbelievably selfish." She growled, knuckles white as she brought a hand to the bridge of her nose.

"Selfish? What the fuck, Bon?" Marceline asked, throwing out her arms for emphasis.

"You really couldn't handle being alone for one night?"

"I wouldn't have needed to if you didn't flake out on me!"

"What else was I supposed to do?" Bonnie asked, shouting back.

"Uh, not flake out?" Marceline said obviously.

"I didn't think you wanted me to come! You were being weird!" Bonnie said defensively.

"I was not!"

"You were!" She huffed.

"Then why _did_ you even come? I thought you didn't feel good-"

"Because I wanted to talk to you."

"Well that's going well so far." Marceline chuckled.

"Clearly." Bonnie said sarcastically.

"Well, what did you want to talk about?"

"You know what? It doesn't even matter. I don't know why I even bothered."

"Just say what you came here to say!" Marceline said, growing frustrated. "Unless for whatever reason your plan was just to come down here to pick a fight-"

"I felt bad for cancelling on you, so I wanted to come and apologize! I thought we could hang out! But obviously you're busy, so it's fine, I'll just go." Bonnie turned from her, heading toward the door.

"You should've just came with me to this stupid party in the first place!" Marceline yelled to her back. Bonnie spun in place, facing her again, she rounded on the attack.

"What don't you get?" Bonnie snapped. "I came down here ready to apologize for something _I_ didn't even do, just so _you_ could stop acting so weird!"

"I'm not acting weird!"

"Not to mention the fact that I thought I was going to get to talk to you before class, but no, you showed up with Annie! What did you do, call her the second you got rid of me last night?" Bonnie asked, shouts becoming quieter, but not any less angry.

"It wasn't like that, Bon." Marceline said awkwardly. _Shit. Ugh. I knew she'd be mad. Not like she has any right to, though, right? It's not like she's my girlfriend-_

"No? So she just showed up at your apartment this morning to walk you to class?" Bonnie accused.

 _What the fuck is her problem?_ "Fine! We hooked up last night! She slept over! What the fuck does it matter to you?" Marceline yelled.

"You are such an _asshole_." Bonnie said quietly.

"You started it!" Marceline shouted, suddenly feeling guilty. Instead of responding, Bonnie quickly turned and rushed out of the room. _Great. Now I really fucked it up._ Marceline followed after her, catching her by the shoulder as she tried to push through the keg line. "Bon, come on." Marceline said, having to shout over the noise.

"Leave me alone!" Bonnie shouted back, shaking her hand off. She didn't look back as she raced out of the party.

 _Fuck. I really really fucked it up._ "Yo Marce!" Someone called as she neared the door. She spun around and caught Finn out of the corner of her eye. "What's goin' on?" He asked, grinning as she approached him.

"What do you mean?"

"Well first your babe friend left, and I just saw Bonnie, but then I didn't see her, and then I think I just saw her leave- So what's up meng? Are we going to a different party or something?" He asked. "I drank two bottles of water so Jake said I could-"

"Shit, Annie left?" Marceline groaned.

"Yeah, like two minutes ago." Finn shrugged. "Maybe it was ten. I don't remember." He laughed.

"Jake's still around, right?" She asked.

"Yeah, him and Lady went to go get some more beer." Finn said pointing off into the distance.

"Alright, stay here. I'll be back." She said before pushing past a crowd of people to get out of the party. The sudden rush of cool air prickled her too warm skin, causing her to shiver. _Shit._ She thought, glancing at the empty street in front of her. To her right, the block party raged on. _Would she have headed in there? No. Shit. She probably just went home-_

"What'd you do, break up with her?" A voice asked, startling Marceline. She spun around to see Annie standing against the wall, smoking a cigarette.

"What?" Marceline asked dumbly.

"Betty. She just came running through here all upset. I guess your talk didn't go well?" Annie asked chuckling while, taking another drag.

"It's Bonnie. And she's not my girlfriend." Marceline said, walking up to her.

"Well I sure hoped not, since you've been hooking up with me." Annie laughed half heartedly. Her expression changed as she exhaled. "But clearly, you guys have something going on. I'm not trying to be a homewrecker, or you know, stand in the way of true love or whatever-"

"There's nothing going on between me and Bonnie. It's not gonna happen." Marceline sighed.

"It's obvious you're into her." Annie said, flicking the ash from her cigarette. "Why do you think I'm such an asshole to her?" She laughed.

"And here I thought she was just being dramatic when she'd complain about you." Marceline shrugged, half-smiling.

"I get though, girl falls in love with her best friend, it's a tale as old as time-"

"I'm not in love with her." Marceline said quickly.

"But you like her." Annie said plainly.

"Yeah." Marceline sighed.

"We were having fun tonight, right? Before all of the drama." Annie asked seriously. She held the cigarette out to Marceline, offering. Marceline grabbed it, took a drag, and handed it back.

"Definitely." She said, exhaling the smoke.

"I know I'm not exactly an impartial party-" Annie smirked. "But I think this could be a good thing."

"Oh yeah?"

"I mean, come on. How often do crushes on straight girls actually go well?" Annie asked.

"They don't." Marceline sighed.

"Exactly. It's like the perfect excuse to save yourself some heartbreak." Annie shrugged, tossing the butt of the cigarette to the ground. She stomped it out and looked up at Marceline. "I think we're pretty good together. Wouldn't it be nice to not feel guilty for hanging out with me?"

"Yeah, it would." Marceline said. "You're a pretty good salesperson, you know that?" She laughed.

"Three years of marketing classes will do that to you." Annie said. "Plus, I think you're worth selling myself a little." She smiled. _Should I kiss her? I mean, I guess it's not like Bonnie is ever speaking to me again- Fuck it._ Marceline reached, grabbing Annie by the back of the neck and pulled her in for a kiss. She tasted like ashes, but Marceline didn't care. She wanted to get lost in the breeze and the girl who would kiss her back. Annie held Marceline's waist, pulling her closer as their lips moved together desperately. She pulled back, but not far. "It definitely helps that you're a great kisser." She smirked.

"You're not so bad yourself." Marceline smirked back, hands still on her neck.

"What a compliment. You really know how to woo a girl, huh?" Annie teased. She pat herself down and pulled out a metal flask.

"You do know there's an alcohol filled party right through that door, right?" Marceline laughed.

"This is for you." Annie said. "You look like you could use it." She held the flask out for Marceline, who took it, unscrewing the metal cap. She sniffed it for a clue of it's contents.

"Is this tequila?" Marceline asked.

"It is."

"Who puts tequila in a flask?"

"Uh, people who know how to have fun. Duh." Annie smiled. "Don't tell me you're one of those people who hates tequila, I don't know if this is gonna work out." She teased.

"Work out?" Marceline asked. _Like we're together or something. Shit, does she think we're together?_ Marceline took a gulp from the flask, hardly wincing. _Maybe I do like tequila._ Her face felt hot instantly, as if it had reactivated the rest of the booze still sloshing around in her stomach.

"Oh, you know what I mean." Annie said. "Not like we're together or anything." _Oh, good._ She beckoned for the flask, taking a drink once Marceline passed it to her. "We could be, though." The statement startled Marceline. _Wait, what?_

"Uh-"

"Look, I know we've only known each other for two weeks, but I don't know. I feel like I've known you forever."

"Probably because you stalked me for so long." Marceline teased.

"I thought we agreed we would never bring that up again?" Annie asked, covering her face from embarrassment.

"We did no such thing."

"Anyway, as much as I try not to be a lesbian stereotype, I just know what I want. And right now, that's you. I like you. I like hanging out with you."

"By hanging out do you mean hooking up?" Marceline joked.

"Absolutely." Annie laughed.

"I like you too." Marceline said. "But it's just, complicated." She sighed, taking another gulp from the flask.

"I know you're kinda hung up on Bonnie, but if I can't fix that, I don't know who could." Annie laughed. "Plus at the very least, it'll piss her off."

"That's romantic." Marceline laughed.

"I try my best." Annie said.

"I just- I don't really do relationships." Marceline said, holding the back of her neck.

"Let me guess, tragic past?" Annie teased. "A girl broke your heart and you swore off dating?"

"Abusive ex boyfriend, actually." Marceline said without hesitation.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry-" Annie rushed.

"It's cool." Marceline shrugged, taking another gulp from the flask. "I survived." There was an awkward silence. "I'm surprised you didn't already know that though, you know, since you stalked me for so long."

"Oh come on." Annie laughed.

"It's just too good to not use." Marceline smirked.

"So it's a no, then?"

"What is?"

"Dating me. It's a no. You don't want to."

"That's not what I said."

"It pretty much is." Annie chuckled. "It's cool though, no hard feelings."

"I didn't say no!"

"You said you don't date."

"That doesn't mean no!" Marceline said. "It's just complicated."

"It doesn't have to be."

"It always is." Marceline laughed. "Girls are complicated."

"You're a girl." Annie laughed.

"I know, that's how I know we're complicated." She smirked.

"What's the worst that can happen?" Annie asked. "We break up?" She laughed. "It's a pretty low risk situation." _I guess she's right, right? What's the worst that could happen? She murders me and wears my skin like a coat? Pretty unlikely. How much worse can you get from someone who stole and sold your childhood possessions?_

"You know what, fuck it. Let's do it." Marceline said, clanging down the empty flask to her side.

"Yeah?" Annie grinned.

"Yeah." Marceline nodded. "You're right. What's the worst that can happen? Let's just try it, right?" Annie grabbed her by the back of the neck and pulled her in for a long kiss.

"You just made a great call. Now you get access to all of the girlfriend privileges." Annie smiled, still holding Marceline's waist.

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Like sleepovers-"

"Oh, like the one we had last night?" Marceline teased.

"That was an accident."

"Well, I'm pretty much done with this party anyway if you want to start our sleepover early." Marceline said in a low voice.

"Actually, I should be heading home now."

"What? Seriously?" Marceline asked.

"Yeah, remember that marketing strategies midterm I missed earlier? My professor got back to me and said I can take a makeup along with the 9am Saturday class and not lose any points."

"He's probably trying to fuck you." Marceline said.

"It's a she, but yeah, probably." Annie laughed. "I should really head home though."

"I can't believe you tempted me with a sleepover and now you're just ripping it away." Marceline faked a dramatic sigh.

"Luckily for you, sleepovers aren't the only benefit of being my girlfriend."

"Oh no?"

"Nope. But the rest can be a surprise." Annie smirked. She grabbed Marceline and kissed her. "Night." She said.

"Wait, you want me to walk you home or something?" Marceline asked.

"You're sweet, but I'll be fine. Go back in and have fun with your friends. Just don't make out with any other girls on pool tables." Annie laughed.

"You got it." Marceline smirked. Annie turned from her and disappeared down the block. _Shit. What am I supposed to do now? I can't party if I have a girlfriend. Shit. I can't believe I have a girlfriend. It's been so long._ Marceline looked around. Every street looked empty but the one to her right, it was as if everyone on campus decided to pack into one block's worth of street and houses. _I guess I'll just head home._ She pulled out her phone and sent a text to Finn, letting him know she was leaving.

The walk was eerie once she had gotten far enough away from the party for the music to die down. Everything was quiet and still. Marceline's phone vibrated. She took it out of her pocket expecting it to be a reply from Finn, or even a text from Annie, but instead it was a call from Bonnie. _What the fuck? Why is she even calling? Didn't she basically just tell me to fuck off? Whatever._ She clicked the button to silence the ring and tucked it back into the pocket. _And I'm the selfish asshole. Whatever._

Something shuffled from behind a tree up ahead. Marceline stopped to examine, but it seemed like nothing, so she continued down the block.

"I was hoping that I'd run into you." A sinister voice called from nowhere, startling Marceline. A few feet in front of her, a short, familiar man stepped out from behind a tree. She recognized him instantly, cobbled together face impossible to forget. _Shit. It's that weirdo dude I knocked out that one time- What the fuck was his name? Ricky? Robbie? Ricardo? No, something stupid-_ "Oh now, did I scare you? My apologies." He crooned, twisting his mouth into a smile as he stepped directly in her path. _Ricardio! What a stupid name-_

"Look dude, I'm really not in the mood to kick your ass right now, okay? Just consider yourself lucky and go away." Marceline growled.

"I do consider myself lucky." He laughed. "Lucky that I caught you without Bonnibel. I wouldn't want her to witness me being so _uncivilized_." He breathed, taking another step toward Marceline.

"Okay, well, I'm going home, so you have fun standing behind trees and being a creep." She said, stepping to walk around him.

"I don't think so." He said, shuffling to block her path again.

"Alright, you have three seconds before I knock you out. Get out of my way." She threatened. He took a step back. _Thank god. I really did not feel like doing this tonight._ Just as she took a step forward, Ricardo reached into his pocket and pulled out something thin and black. _The fuck?_ Not a second later, there was a click, and a silver blade emerged, gleaming in the orange glow of the streetlights. _Is that a fucking knife? Oh shit-_ "Woah, what the fuck?" She asked. "What are you gonna do, stab me?" She almost laughed. It was all so bizarre.

"That's one idea." He grinned. _Is that even a real knife? Or is this asshole just trying to scare me? Fuck, should I call security or something?_ She reached toward her back pocket for her phone. "Not so fast." He said, stepping up quickly to grab her by the arm. Her fingers wrapped around her phone as she tried to yank her arm free of his grip. She threw her weight downwards, breaking free, sending Ricardio and her phone to the ground. _Shit!_ She took a long dash forward, but Ricardio caught her by the leg. Marceline tried to catch herself, but nothing could stop her from flying face first into the concrete. _Ow! Shit! Why does this keep happening to me? Fuck fuck fuck-_ Her hands were torn raw from the rough sidewalk, bits of gravel and glass stuck to her palms, her jaw burned. Without much thought, she shot her leg out hard behind her.

"Get the- fuck- off me!" She yelled, knees scraping the ground with every kick until she felt his grip loosen from her ankle. Marceline quickly moved to pick herself up off the ground, hardly wincing when she pressed her cut palms to the sidewalk. Just as quickly as she had moved, she was thrown backward, hitting her head on the ground. Ricardio loomed inches over her, his legs on either side of her waist, threatening her with the blade of the knife. _Where the fuck is everyone? Security? It's fucking Halloween! Someone's gotta come help- Shit- He wouldn't-_ He smiled at her, menacingly. _What a fucking smug prick- If he didn't have a fucking knife he'd be out cold-_ "What's your plan here, dude? You gonna murder me in the middle of the street?" She asked, boldly. Ricardio faltered. "You don't even have a plan, do you?" She laughed. "You just thought you could jump me, threaten to stab me and then that would be it?" _Maybe I could kick his legs out- Shit, but what if her falls with the knife in his hand?_

"You think I won't?" He growled, swinging the blade a little closer to her chest.

"No, otherwise you would've done it by now." She shrugged, back still to the pavement. "You're too much of a pussy."

"You've insulted me for the last time, you pathetic ruffian!" He shouted. In that moment, Marceline watched as every muscle in Ricardio's arm twitched, swinging backward first, then forward _fuck fuck fuck-_ Instinctively, she shot upright, arms out to try and knock him off balance, and unintentionally hit him in the crotch. Ricardio wailed with pain, doubling over on top of her. "You bitch!" He yelled from over her shoulder.

There was a sudden searing pain on Marceline's back, the breeze sent goosebumps running up her spine. The weight of his body was suffocating. Her thoughts felt cloudy. Her heart raced. She had lost all sense of time as the pain stung sharper. There was yelling. Then suddenly, it was cool. The weight was gone. _What the fuck?_ She thought, trying to reacquaint herself with her surroundings. The concrete of the sidewalk was still cold on her legs, but now she was lying back again. _So I guess I'm not dead._ She sat up, cautiously, blinking hard. _What the fuck?_ Marceline watched as two people a couple feet from her fought on the ground. The person on top clearly winning, throwing punch after punch. _Is that- me? Am I high? Fuck, maybe I really am dead-_ Slowly, she lifted herself to her feet.

"Marcy!" A familiar voice yelled behind her. Before she could turn around, there were hands on her shoulders. It was Finn. "Marcy! Are you okay? Oh man you look super jacked up-" He said nervously.

"I'm fine." She said, brushing him off. Her attention was still on the fight. _So, this is real. And that's definitely not me, because I'm me. So who the fuck is that?_ She took a few steps closer to better analyze the scene, long hair flew in all directions with each swinging punch, appearing orange in the light. It was obvious who was the one receiving the beat down, Ricardio's collage of features recognizable even under a coating of blood. _Wait a sec, is that? No. There's no fucking way._ Finn must have noticed them for the first time too, because suddenly he yelled, "Bonnibel!"

Bonnie looked up from Ricardio, apparently surprised to see Finn. Marceline stood in disbelief, examining Bonnie's features to determine whether or not any of this could be real. _Is she really here? Beating someone up?_ Ricardio took advantage of Bonnie's new distractions and threw a feeble punch at her.

"Hey!" Finn screamed, running towards them. "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to hit ladies?" He yelled, giving Ricardio a kick in the ribs. He turned to Bonnie. "You should get Marcy out of here, she needs a hospital." He said quickly.

"What about him?" Bonnie asked, pointing at the bloodied man on the ground.

"Jake will be here in a minute. We'll totally take it from here. Just hurry. She doesn't look so good." Finn frowned, looking over at Marceline.

Bonnie sprung into action, moving off of Ricardio, she grabbed Marceline's phone from the ground and started dialing someone. _Good thing my phone still works._ Marceline thought. She was more grounded in reality now, but still felt sort of disconnected. _Shit, I'm going to be so pissed if I die-_

"Marceline." Bonnie said. She was now standing right in front of her.

"Hey." Marceline said, almost laughing. Bonnie didn't seem to match her tone, flecks of blood dotting her seriously set jaw.

"Keila should be here any minute." Bonnie said, walking around Marceline. "Oh god." She said, noticing the back of her torn shirt was soaked in blood.

"Keila?" Marceline asked. _What the fuck is going on?_ A lot happened at once, Jake and Lady ran up, yelling, trying to figure out what was happening, and the noise started to attract the curiosity of other students who started forming a crowd. There was a honking horn. It wasn't until Bonnie was guiding her by the hand that Marceline realized they were getting into the van. Bonnie shut the door behind them and peeled off before the crowd around Finn and Ricardio could grow.

"Dude, what the fuck happened?" Keila asked from the driver's seat.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure I got stabbed." Marceline laughed.

"What?" Keila exclaimed.

"Yeah. This dude I knocked out once came after me with a knife." Marceline laughed again. "It was fucking bonkers."

"Where are you going? The hospital is that way." Bonnie asked, pointing in the opposite direction of that Kiela just turned.

"Marce doesn't do hospitals. Trust me." Keila said.

"I don't." Marceline agreed. "Plus I feel fine. Just like, hungry and a little dizzy."

"You probably have a concussion, too." Bonnie said worriedly.

"It's cool, you just gotta take her home and patch her up. Marce has seen some pretty rough stuff." Keila said.

"You're not coming?" Bonnie asked.

"Nah. I'll be on standby in case either of you need another getaway car, but I have a date that I'm neglecting." Keila laughed, pulling over in front of Marceline's apartment.

"She could die!" Bonnie said.

"She'll be fine. I trust you." Keila said. "If you guys need anything else, let me know. But I have a feeling you won't." She added slyly.

Bonnie gave her a look, but didn't wait for one in return, instead getting up to help Marceline get out of the van and into her apartment.

"We really should go to the hospital, Marceline. Or at least the student health center. There's a lot of blood." Bonnie said, nervously as they crossed into her living room.

Marceline felt significantly better from just walking through the door to something familiar. The world around her confusing and blurred only moments ago was now solid and quiet. She finally relaxed her shoulders. _Okay. This is real. Definitely real._ She thought. "It's probably just because I've been drinking." Marceline said. "Booze thins your blood, you know. Plus, the health center is probably closed, and I can't afford a hospital bill on top of student loans." Marceline chuckled. "I have some butterfly stitches in the bathroom cabinet, I don't think I have peroxide or anything though." She said, grabbing some crackers from a kitchen cabinet and stuffing a few in her mouth.

"Who keep butterfly stitches on hand?" Bonnie asked, incredulously. "And not anything for sanitation?"

"When you get into as many fights as I do, you need them." Marceline laughed through a full mouth. "I normally just throw some vodka on them. Keep it hardcore." She grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and drank half of it in one gulp. _Shit I was thirsty. Who needs hospitals anyway? I feel way better._

"That sounds expensive."

"You say that like I drink anything other than cheap vodka." Marceline laughed. She tried to keep her smile as her head pounded. Bonnie led her by the hand into her room. Marceline sat down on her bed and attempted to lean toward the floor until pain in her back brought her upright again.

"What do you need?" Bonnie said, quickly coming to her side.

"Aspirin. It's normally on the floor here somewhere." Marceline said, trying to stifle the pain. Bonnie reached down to the floor, feeling blindly until she heard a rattle of pills. She pulled out two and handed them to Marceline. "Only two? I got stabbed, Bon. I'm not treating a hangover." She laughed.

"Taking them in excess can cause internal bleeding!" Bonnie said defensively.

"Oh come on."

"Fine. You can have two more. But that's it." Bonnie said, handing her another two pills. Marceline took all four with a gulp from her water. "Just lie on your stomach, I'll go get the supplies." Bonnie said, turning toward the door. "You should probably take that shirt off too, so you don't get blood the bed."

 _Right._ Marceline slowly reached to her sides, crossing her arms to pull her shirt up. _Ah- Shit-_ She flinched back from the pain. _Well, I guess I'm stuck wearing this stupid shirt forever-_ She could hear Bonnie clanging bottles in the kitchen. _I can't believe that asshole actually stabbed me-_ Bonnie reentered the room with an armful of supplies. She gave Marceline a curious look. "I couldn't get it off." She frowned. "I think it's stuck to the cuts or something."

Bonnie set the supplies down on the bed. "Here." She said, guiding Marceline to turn her body. She reached for the hem of her shirt and pulled it away from her skin, lifting it slowly over her wounds. Her cool hands grazed Marceline's skin, nervously guiding the shirt and her arms up to pull it off. Marceline flinched as the collar pulled across the apparently bruised back of her head. "Sorry." Bonnie frowned. Slowly, she managed to get the rest of the shirt off Marceline without any additional injury.

Marceline turned her head to face her friend. "Thanks." She muttered quietly. Bonnie's eyes were sympathetic as she examined the newly revealed gashes on her back. Marceline shifted uncomfortably, now helpless and exposed in her bra and torn jeans. _I swear to god I am never losing a fight again._

"You should lie down." Bonnie said. She shifted some of the supplies around so there would be space for Marceline's legs, and guided her gently to lie on her stomach. "I've never used these before, hopefully I put them on right." Bonnie said quietly.

"They're easy, it's kinda like putting on a bandaid. The strips are just there to hold the two sides of the cut together." Marceline said. Her voice was muffled from the pillow in front of her.

"Are you sure they'll be enough?" Bonnie asked.

"I sure hope so." Marceline said, letting out a dry laugh.

Bonnie grabbed a wad of toilet paper she brought in from the bathroom, and cautiously poured some vodka on to it, not wanting it to be too wet. With it, she gingerly pressed against one of two large gashes. They looked deep, visible blood still leaking a dark red from an indistinguishable source. The skin around it was crusted with dry flecks, hanging on to microscopic hairs. Bonnie tried to wipe it away, but Marceline flinched with every touch. _God this sucks._ Bonnie took some more vodka to run along the wounds, trying to make sure they were as sanitized as possible. The searing pain was overwhelming.

"Fuck!" Marceline cried out.

"I'm really sorry." Bonnie said. "I'm done sanitizing now, okay? I'm just going to put on the stitches and wrap you up."

"Yeah." Marceline said through gritted teeth.

Bonnie grabbed the butterfly stitches and unwrapped them, carefully holding together the skin on either side of the wound. She applied the thin strips tightly to the skin and leg go. They seemed to hold, so she repeated the process on the other cut and covered them with gauze pads. "Okay, you're done." Bonnie said, patting her lightly on the legs.

Marceline rolled over on to her side to look up at Bonnie. "This sucks." She said.

"Maybe you should stop beating up strangers." Bonnie shrugged. "You never know which ones will come after you with a knife."

"Oh so now this is my fault?" Marceline laughed.

"No, I'm just saying. He probably wouldn't have attacked you if you didn't hit him all those weeks ago."

"I was defending you."

"Maybe you shouldn't have." Bonnie frowned.

"What? So you could've ended up getting stabbed? No chance." Marceline said plainly. Bonnie smiled slightly. They stared at each other for a moment in silence, before Marceline shifted awkwardly. _Should I not have said that? Too gay?_ "Uh, anyway, how'd you know where to find me?" Marceline asked.

"I didn't." Bonnie shrugged. "You weren't answering my calls, which worried me, so I decided to walk to your apartment-"

"Oh, what, like I always answer your calls?"

"Uh, yeah." Bonnie laughed.

"Why'd you call me anyway? We just had a fight, why'd you assume I'd wanna talk to you?" Marceline defended.

"Are you serious?" Bonnie almost laughed. "Let me get this straight, now you're mad at me because I saved your life?"

"No! Whatever! I'm just saying." Marceline said. "What if I just didn't feel like fighting anymore and you walked all the way to my apartment alone at night for nothing?"

"Luckily for you, that was a risk I was willing to take."

"Whatever." Marceline said.

"Clearly you have an issue with not being the hero." Bonnie laughed.

"Whatever!" Marceline pouted. "I don't know how to be the damsel in distress."

"You could start with thanks for saving my life, Bon." Bonnie said. "Or maybe, thanks for coming to check on me even after I was being a big dumb jerk, Bon."

"I was not being a big dumb jerk!" Marceline defended.

"You were!"

"So then why'd you even bother to come after me?" Marceline asked. "You probs should've just left me there to die in a puddle of blood with that fucking creep on top of me." She shrugged.

"Yeah, probably." Bonnie deadpanned.

"Hey!"

"You know why I came after you?" Bonnie asked.

"Why?"

"Because you make me do everything. I figured this would be no different." Bonnie shrugged.

"I do not!"

"You do!" Bonnie retorted.

"Like what?"

"Like help you pass organic chemistry, like keep you company, like make sure you don't get too drunk when we go out places, like-"

"I never asked you to do any of that."

"Yes you did."

"Well look if I'm such a burden on you, you don't have to keep putting up with me." Marceline huffed.

"You are so dramatic." Bonnie said.

"Yeah, I get it, I'm too much-"

"Stop."

"Stop what?" Marceline asked.

"Stop being so dramatic. You know that is not what I'm saying."

"Then what are you saying?" Marceline asked. Bonnie took a deep breath.

"I'm saying-" She paused, looking suddenly unsure. She took another deep breath and continued. "I'm saying that I get it. You want me to do everything. You want me to make the first move." Bonnie said quietly. Marceline's breath hitched in her throat. _Did she just? Does she mean?_ "And I don't think I ever would have." Bonnie sighed. "But then Annie came around and I started feeling- just- crazy, I guess. It wasn't hard to figure out why." Bonnie finished. Marceline's heart pounded so loud she was worried Bonnie might hear it. _She just- That was it, right? She likes me back, right?_ Marceline sat up on the bed, now eye level with Bonnie.

"Okay, Bon, I know I'm going to sound like a huge dick, but I really need you to be as not vague as possible here, because I feel like I've been misunderstanding-" Marceline said quickly.

"I wanted you to kiss me." Bonnie said suddenly. _Wait, what? What? Is this real? Is this really happening?_ "When we were in the dressing room. I didn't realize you were waiting for me to kiss you back until after you left." Bonnie said, not meeting her eyes.

Marceline turned the sentence over in her mind. _She wanted me to kiss her. Wanted it._ "You wanted to kiss me?" She asked, dumbly. Bonnie blushed lightly, nodding yes. "You're not just saying this because I almost died tonight, right?" Marceline asked skeptically.

"No." Bonnie said quietly.

"So you're telling me that I'm not crazy and desperate and I haven't been imagining all of this shit that's been going on between us?"

"Well I'm not sure exactly what you have and haven't imagined." Bonnie teased.

"You know what I mean!"

"You're not crazy." Bonnie chuckled.

"So?" Marceline asked.

"So what?"

"So what do we do now?" Marceline asked. Her whole body was suddenly tensed in anticipation.

"I don't know." Bonnie shrugged.

"Well," Marceline took a deep breath. "Do you still want to kiss me?" She asked, with all of the courage she could gather.

"I do." Bonnie said so softly it could've been a whisper. Without another thought, Marceline brought a hand to her cheek, guiding their lips together, slowly, nervously. When they met, all of the nerves dissipated. Bonnie's lips were burned into Marceline's mind, having thought about nothing but they way they felt for the last day, she kissed with desperation, trying to remember every sweet breath and gummy soft movement. She wrapped her hand into Bonnie's hair, lightly pulling her closer. This time, Bonnie kissed back, each movement interested and unsure. Marceline pulled away slightly, certain she would suffocate Bonnie if she didn't give her a chance to breathe.

"Fuck." Marceline whispered, still close enough that her lips grazed Bonnie's. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."

"I thought you weren't interested in me." Bonnie teased.

"That wasn't a test, was it? Because what was I supposed to say?" She laughed lightly.

"The truth?"

"No way. I thought you'd for sure get weirded out and not wanna be my friend anymore. Plus we were nowhere near as flirty then. It was an awkward situation." Marceline said.

"Right. Sorry about that." Bonnie muttered.

"What would you have done if I was like, yeah I'm totally into you?"

"I don't know." Bonnie said. "I hardly know what I'm doing now." She laughed lightly.

"Oh don't worry about that." Marceline said. "I've got plenty of things to show you." She wiggled her eyebrows.

"Marceline!" Bonnie blushed.

"What, you were the one stripping for me last night." She laughed.

"Momentary lapse of sanity." Bonnie shook her head.

"What's to say you can't have another one of those right now?" Marceline said, pulling Bonnie's lips back to her own. Her faced flushed from either a lack of oxygen or excitement, but she didn't care enough to think on it. Instead she focused on the way Bonnie's breathing quickened with every kiss. Marceline felt like she needed to be closer, grabbing the back of Bonnie's neck with both hands. She pulled away, noticing Bonnie pout, and kissed along her jaw. Bonnie raised her chin instinctively, giving Marceline access to the soft skin on her neck. Her lips were cool on Bonnie's warm skin, the ghost of her teeth making her flinch. Marceline gave her a curious look.

"I thought you were going to bite me." Bonnie whispered in response.

"Did you want me to?" Marceline asked, voice unexpectedly low. Bonnie bit her own lip lightly, and nodded. _Fuck._ Marceline thought. _Maybe I really did die-_ Within seconds, Marceline sunk her teeth into the skin of Bonnie's still outstretched neck, sucking lightly. She felt Bonnie's moan rumbling before she heard it, a low guttural sound she wouldn't have imagined could come from the pink haired girl she knew.

"Oh, Marceline." She moaned.

 _Fuck. Fuck shit-_ Marceline couldn't take it anymore. She grabbed Bonnie by the waist with one hand, and by the neck with the other, pulling her roughly down to the bed. "Fuck!" Marceline yelled almost immediately. She had forgotten entirely about the stab wounds on her back, shooting pains a sudden reminder.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" Bonnie asked quickly moving off of her.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said through gritted teeth.

"We should probably relax, huh?"

"If you think some tiny cuts are going to stop me from making out with you, you don't know me at all." Marceline laughed, laying back down on her side. Bonnie followed so they could talk face to face.

"They're not tiny." Bonnie said seriously. "I was really worried about you." She added softly.

"So you _are_ only making out with me because you thought I was going to die." Marceline teased.

"Shut up." Bonnie laughed. "You're important to me. It makes me sick to think about what could've happened tonight if I didn't find you." She said gravely.

"Good thing you did, huh? Otherwise I totally would've died not knowing you had the hots for me."

"I'm serious, Marceline." Bonnie said, running a finger lightly along her jaw.

"So am I." She laughed. "Honestly, with all the fights I've been in, I can't believe I've never been stabbed before." A smile pulled from the corner of her lips as Bonnie passed her finger by them.

"And I can't believe it's taken me this long to punch someone." Bonnie smirked.

"I can't believe you punched someone and I missed it."

"You missed it?" Bonnie frowned.

"Yeah. I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't all there for a little while. I think I was in shock or something. It was super weird."

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah, I really do feel better now. More stable and shit. I can't believe I pretty much missed you beating that asshole up."

"I couldn't help myself." Bonnie said quietly. "Seeing you like that- it was scary."

"The last few seconds I did see were pretty hot though, you looking up all covered in some douchebags blood. Vengeful's definitely a good look for you." Marceline smirked.

"Shut up." Bonnie smiled.

"Honestly, I'm still trying to deal with the fact that I can tell you looked hot, now. This is unbelievable." Marceline smirked.

"You couldn't tell me I looked hot before?"

"I mean, I could, but not without worrying about whether or not I was overstepping boundaries and shit. It's a whole new world out here." Marceline laughed. Bonnie looked at her, placing her hand on Marceline's cheek, she lifted her head and moved in for a long kiss. "Shit. I don't think I'll get used to that, either." Marceline said quietly.

"Should I stop?" Bonnie teased.

"Don't you dare." Marceline breathed, pulling Bonnie back for another kiss.


End file.
